Lynn Cullen Live 04/03/12
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; Supreme Court allowing strip searching w/o probable cause; conservatives are creepy; Planned Parenthood bombing in Wisconsin; Miss Universe allowing transgender back into the competition; bomb threats at Pitt; “coffeeshops” being shut down to tourists in the Netherlands; Santorum making things up about the Dutch & their approval of euthanasia; Palin…
Heads-up: Arts Festival music lineup
Three Rivers Arts Festival announces a bill of musical acts that we’ve seen before.
Lynn Cullen Live 04/02/12
Video Archive Melani soap opera; Oakmont officer’s police report reads like a novel; Quaker Oats guy ( barely ) gets a makeover; Stand Your Ground Law = Feel Free to Shoot Black Men Law; race + homicide; in NM, private parties can sell guns anywhere w/o a background check; what did Santorum call Obama?; motorists…
City Theatre’s Saturday Double-Headers
Over the years I’d attended a few City Theatre shows on Saturday nights. But until this past weekend, when I hopped over there for a performance of the wonderfully entertaining The Monster in the Hall, it had never struck me how unusual the company’s Saturday schedule is. According to City spokesperson Emily Price, City’s been…
Lynn Cullen Live 03/30/12
Video Archive Phone guest: Dennis Palumbo, screenwriter/psychotherapist/author/Pgh native; aging Hollywood Baby Boomers; Palumbo’s new book, “Fever Dream,” a crime thriller set locally; Pittsburgh tops the list of people who never leave a city; writer’s block — not as bad as you think; male therapist increasingly portrayed as a bad guy; Pittsburgh in Los Angeles; over…
O’Connor seeking to launch HIV/AIDS initiative
City councilman Corey O’Connor plans to introduce legislation next week to create the Pittsburgh HIV/AIDS Commission. The 30-member volunteer commission would have representatives from the county and city, nonprofits, HIV/AIDS service providers, the state Department of Health, educational institutions, neighborhood groups and the business sector. O’Connor, who represents District 5, says the panel’s goal will…
Review: Nile at the Altar Bar
Dallas Toler Wade lorded over the crowd, head shorn like Yul Brynner in The Ten Commandments, and Sanders, ankh pendant around his neck, grooved along like the guitarist in some kind of psychedelic blues band.
New track: Good Night, States — “Everybody Is Sound”
Download a free tune from Good Night States’ new album, Country/Static.
Photographer to Discuss Serial-Killer-Themed Work
Considering its subject matter, tomorrow’s talk at Point Park University, by photographer Stephen Chalmers, has an unusual genesis. Chalmers’ series Unmarked began with the butterflies of early love, the beauty of open fields freckled with flowers. Once, Chalmers took his significant other on a hiking date along a Tiger Mountain trail, near Seattle — a…
Haiku review
A few haiku on recent Pittsburgh shows.
Lynn Cullen Live 03/29/12
Video Archive No Sokolowski til mid-April; more on Supreme Court & Obamacare; wealth means more than the voice of the people; Obamacare came from a conservative idea; healthcare companies racking up lawyer costs; Obit of the day: Earl Scruggs, bluegrass legend; Afghan women jailed for being victims; US presence won’t change Afghan culture; reading of…
Steel City Ukuleles keeps strummin’
STEEL CITY UKULELES MEETING 7-9 p.m. April 4. Wilkins School Community Center 7604 Charleston Ave. Swissvale. marleneparrish@earthlink.net or steelcityukuleles.com A pleasant frenzy fills a stark classroom in the Wilkins School Community Center: the sound of loosening and tightening strings, of amicably disagreeing notes, of cheery scales and the choruses of several different songs all played…
On the Record with Dan Peluso of Falling Andes
FALLING ANDES with BREAKING LACES, TANGERINE, MIKE CALI. 7 p.m. Fri., March 30. Stage AE. 400 North Shore Drive North Side. $10-12. All ages. 412-229-5483 or stageae.com Dan Peluso heads up the local five-piece indie-rock band Falling Andes. After a stint working for indie and major labels and playing in New York, he returned to…
Critics’ Picks: March 29 – April 3
[CANADIAN FOLK] + THU., MARCH 29 If it’s come into vogue to refer to music with roots in the American folk tradition as “Americana,” can we call Genticorum’s music “Canadiana”? Do everyone a favor and don’t actually ask the Quebecois trio that question when they play as part of the Calliope series tonight at the…
Standing for Trayvon: Crowd of 300 express outrage over Florida teen’s death
When it was time for her teen-age son to get a driver’s license, Toi Chambers made sure he wore a suit for the photograph. “If you’re pulled over and asked for ID, and they see someone in a T-shirt and hat, the first assumption is, ‘You’re a thug, you’re a gangster,'” said Chambers, of McKeesport.…
On the Record with Port Authority of Allegheny County CEO Steve Bland
Between a public hearing where nearly 360 people testified about proposed transit service cuts, discussions with Gov. Tom Corbett and the launch of the North Shore Connector, the Port Authority of Allegheny County has been in the headlines a lot lately. And that often puts authority CEO Steve Bland in the hot seat. The leader…
MIA
MIA continues through April 7. Pittsburgh Playhouse 222 Craft Ave. Oakland. 412-621-4445 or pittsburghplayhouse.com Playwright Bruce J. Robinson has had several plays produced around the country and has written for television. But because I’m not familiar with any of that work, it’s harder to know what to think of his drama MIA, presented by Point…
Little Bangkok in the Strip
Little Bangkok in the Strip 1906 Penn Ave. Strip District. 412-586-4107 Hours: Daily 11 a.m.-p.m. Prices: Soup, salad and appetizers $5-9; entrees $8-15 Liquor: BYOB Jason has been a Strip regular for so long that he can remember when a lone Chinese parlor offered the only sit-down Asian food to be had there. But, fortunately,…
Jesus Christ Superstar
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR continues through Sun., April 1. Pittsburgh Musical Theater at the Byham Theater 101 Sixth St. Downtown. 412-539-0900 or pittsburghmusicals.com The Messiah has returned. Once again. He was last seen in August, when He appeared on stage at the Benedum. He’s back on Broadway in yet another revival. And…
Lynn Cullen Live 03/28/12
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; Scalia looks like a toad; ghostwriters publishing under deceased names; The Snatchel Project; Obamacare & the Supreme Court; new CP out today: Trevon Martin case, Pgh transit, more; gun sales are up; words of the day: lugubrious, loquacious; when a child is born, the parents begin to die; Orie update;…
Attack Theatre takes the road home with Traveling
ATTACK THEATRE performs Traveling $10-45. 888-718-4253 or attacktheatre.showclix.com For its latest program, Traveling, Attack Theatre explores the concept of traveling, both as a physical destination and a temporal enterprise. The group is just back from its own travels — to West Virginia, where it performed the work. Attack managing artistic director and dancer Michele de…
Your Millage May Vary, Part II
In recent months, Allegheny County property owners have been receiving new property assessments in the mail. You may have heard the screams. On average, tax valuations increased by 35 percent countywide. And while the pain will be dulled when tax rates are cut — as they must be, under state law — many residents feel…
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen Directed by: Lasse Hallström Starring: Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, Amr Waked and Kristen Scott Thomas Starts Fri., March 30. AMC Loews, Manor An unlikely trio — a Yemeni sheik, a go-getting Londoner and an uptight Scottish civil servant — bond over a quixotic project in Lasse Hallström’s gentle comedy Salmon…
Hair Trigger
George Zimmerman stands accused — by almost everyone except the law-enforcement professionals of Sanford, Fla. — of chasing down 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and fatally shooting him on Feb. 26. And though Martin was doing nothing wrong, though he tried to flee, and though a police dispatcher told Zimmerman to back off … Zimmerman has cited…
Kill List
Jay hasn’t worked in eight months, and the money from his last job is gone. He’s a British veteran of the Iraq war who fights a lot with his wife, and their 7-year-old son can hear the mêlée from his bedroom. We’ve seen plenty of volatile domestic dramas like this, with one exception: Jay (Neil…
At Kelly’s Bar, LUPEC seeks to revive nearly forgotten cocktails
Kelly’s Bar and Lounge 6012 Penn Circle South East Liberty. 412-363-6012 This week, Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails (LUPEC) launches their 6th annual list of historic cocktails worth saving. The drinks, which will be featured at Kelly’s Bar and Lounge in East Liberty for the next year, are being released as part…
Bullhead
As a kid, Jacky learned from his father to “give nature a helping hand” by doping up the cattle on their farm with growth hormones. Now he’s a beefy brooding adult (portrayed by Matthias Schoenaerts), still in the family business, and feeling cornered: Some colleagues have killed a suspicious cop, and he worries about the…
Savage Love
I am the father of a recently out 18-year-old gay boy. My son is in a relationship with a 31-year-old guy. I’m not OK with that. Yes, my son is a legal adult, but he’s still in high school. His mother argues that to be supportive, we can’t object to this relationship. I don’t think…
Goon
If you just want to hear a hundred iterations of the f-word and see some bloody teeth skittering across the ice in slow motion, you’ll likely love this comic celebration of hockey violence from Michael Dowse. In it, a dim bulb of a bruiser named Doug (Seann Scott William) is recruited by a Canadian minor-league…
Changing times at the Beehive coffee shop
Over two decades, entrepreneurs Scott Kramer and Steve Zumoff have opened a string of successful bars and restaurants along East Carson Street. Their latest venture comes at the expense of their earliest. The Beehive Coffeehouse and Dessertery opened in 1991, heralding the South Side’s arrival as a cultural hotspot with its funky décor and hang-out…
The Carnegie hosts a show by famed Vietnam Memorial designer Maya Linn.
MAYA LIN continues through May 13. Carnegie Museum of Art 4400 Forbes Ave. Oakland. 412-622-3131 or cmoa.org I have always loved the shape of the Ohio River. Not so much the water, riverbanks or topography, mind you; I actually just loved the maps. I grew up in Marietta, Ohio, and I delighted in how my…
Short List: March 29 – April 5
Pittsburgh’s queen of dance improvisation, Gia Cacalano, returns to Wood Street Galleries for her latest Gia T. Presents production, Blink. Cacalano, a resident artist at the Galleries, has created performances around some of the installations. On March 30 and 31, for Blink, Cacalano will collaborate with Norwegian artist HC Gilje’s animated light and sound installation “In…
Chitra Ganesh offers a transgressive and powerful view of femininity.
CHITRA GANESH: TRANSFORMATION AND TRANSGRESSION continues through April 14. Michael Berger Gallery 30 S. Sixth St. South Side. 412-235-7482 or michaelbergergallery.com Myths, legends, fables and folklore generally differ across cultures, but they all have similar features. Meant to entertain and enlighten, these sacred stories and morality tales involve gods, humans, animals and even inanimate objects…
Every Tongue Confess
EVERY TONGUE CONFESS continues through Sun., April 1. August Wilson Center for African American Culture 980 Liberty Ave. Downtown. 412-456-6666 or augustwilsoncenter.org Thousands, maybe millions of plays have sparkling premieres but lack the true measure of success: a second production by another company. The August Wilson Center for African American Culture is making it part…
J Bird Studios turns out quality local work — with the help of cupcakes and cats
BIG SNOW BIG THAW CD RELEASE (recorded at J Bird Studios). 10 p.m. Sat., March 31. Club Café 56 S. 12th St. South Side. $8. 412-431-4950 or clubcafelive.com In 1953, Elvis Presley walked into Sun Studio in Memphis and paid $3.98 for studio time and a two-song record to give to his mother as a…
