Medical-marijuana bill passes Pennsylvania state house
Medical marijuana legislation has passed the Pa. House, after passing the Senate twice and years of spirited debate.
In Pittsburgh talk, Flint water-crisis reporter Curt Guyette lauds residents for breaking the story
Curt Guyette, who wrote the story on Flint’s water crisis, spoke at Point Park University in Pittsburgh last night.
Listen Up! March 16
Spotify playlist for March 16
Art installation transforms Pittsburgh’s Market Square into a living record player
Allard van Hoorn’s life-size record player in Pittsburgh’s Market Square combines light and sound to create an effect that’s anything but square.
Charges dropped against teen arrested in ruckus outside Downtown Pittsburgh’s Wood Street T Station
The arresting officer of the teenage boy arrested in City Paper video of Wood Street ruckus fails to show up to court and charges against teenage boy are dropped.
Retooled City Books re-opens tomorrow on Pittsburgh’s North Side
Owner Arlan Hess plans grand opening for Saturday.
MP3 Monday: Amuck
MP3 Monday free download featuring Pittsburgh rapper Amuck
Suburban Pittsburgh mass shooting draws reaction from Pennsylvania officials, candidates
Pennsylvania officials react to mass shooting in Pittsburgh suburb this week.
Pittsburgh’s East End Book Exchange still seeking buyers
Five-year-old store is doing well, but the owner says it is time to move on
Campaign 2016’s Silly Season: A Weekly Tweet Roundup March 11
This week in our Campaign 2016 tweet roundup: John Kasich snags the Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsement, while Ben Carson endorses Donald Trump.
Pittsburgh City Council votes to use goats for park vegetation maintenance
This week, Pittsburgh City Council gave preliminary approval to a partnership — with Tree Pittsburgh and Steel City Grazers — that would use goats to combat invasive vegetation in local parks.
Bark, Baby! It’s the Fifth Annual B*tches Ball drag competition benefiting Pittsburgh’s Animal Rescue League
Annual fundraiser B*tches Ball, to benefit Animal Rescue League, crowned Confetti Gunn as Miss B*tchburgh 2016.
What you need to know about Pittsburgh news this week
This week: A mass shooting at a backyard barbecue in the Pittsburgh suburb of Wilkinsburg left the community shocked and saddened. Pennsylvania’s medical-marijuana bill may reach the House floor as early as next week.
Lynn Cullen Live 03/11/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. More on the Wilkinsburg shootings. Protesters at Trump rallies. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Allegheny County officials say nearly 50 shots fired in Wednesday night’s mass shooting in Pittsburgh suburb of Wilkinsburg
Officials release additional information on last night’s mass shooting in Wilkinsburg, a Pittsburgh suburb.
Mass shooting in Pittsburgh suburb leaves five dead, three injured
A mass shooting in the Pittsburgh suburb of Wilkinsburg that killed five and injured three last night brought out local officials and community leaders.
Lynn Cullen 03/10/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Shootings in Wilkinsburg. Gun advocate shot by 4 year old son. How to talk to your children about Trump. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
On her latest record, vocalist Lizz Wright transcends genre
LIZZ WRIGHT 8 p.m. Sat., March 12. August Wilson Center, 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $35. 412-456-6666 or trustarts.org Lizz Wright has a voice that grabs listeners within the first few notes. Her albums bear this out. Dreaming Wide Awake opens with a spare, arresting version of the normally fluffy pop song “A Taste of Honey.”…
Kip’s Ice Cream in Coraopolis focuses on fresh ingredients
Kip’s Ice Cream, in Coraopolis, has not gone to the dogs; in fact it’s thriving. Sure, dog-themed memorabilia is scattered throughout the small space off Thorn Run Road, but this ice-cream parlor provides more than 30 homemade flavors for humans. “The original owner had a dog named Kip and they started the dog theme,” says…
On Elevator Music, Lights La Soul brings a fresh perspective to Pittsburgh hip hop
In November, Lights La Soul gave Pittsburgh his latest project, Elevator Music. On the album, he explores the existence of his own soul, the current status of pop music, the social realities of black people and what it means to be a hip-hop artist in the light of those realities. With all those themes, one…
Praire launches Whiskey Wednesdays
Last time I was in Oregon visiting a much-beloved hippie uncle, I was invited along to Whiskey Wednesdays. This tradition is a weekly gathering of seventysomething men where the titular drink is imbibed while they laugh at their own jokes and poke fun at each other’s expense. After more than a few whiskeys, I’ve wanted…
Critics’ Picks, March 10-16
[FOLK ROCK] + FRI., MARCH 11 & WED., MARCH 16 One can easily draw parallels between ’70s Los Angeles soft-rockers Three Dog Night and modern Philly indie-popsters Dr. Dog. No, they’re not playing a concert together: That would be too perfect to be true. But both bands have a rootsy backbeat, charmingly idiosyncratic vocalists and…
Sherrie Flick’s Whiskey, Etc. is a punchy collection of short-short stories
Whiskey, Etc. By Sherrie Flick Queen’s Ferry Press, 207 pp., $13.56 WHISKEY, ETC. HAPPY HOUR WITH SHERRIE FLICK 7 p.m. Fri., March 18. Wigle Whiskey, 2401 Smallman St., Strip District. wiglewhiskey.com A story totaling six words, and apocryphally credited to Hemingway, reads, “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” But while this might be the most…
New Releases
As Ladders Maybe True (Self-released) asladdersmusic.bandcamp.com Listen to many of today’s indie-folk acts, and you’ll note the tendency to romanticize the early 20th century, an era that few people today were alive to experience. Local four-piece As Ladders, on the other hand, looks no further than a decade or so back, to the hazy days of…
Urban Bush Women return with work inspired by John Coltrane
URBAN BUSH WOMEN perform WALKING WITH ’TRANE 8 p.m. Fri., March 11. August Wilson Center, 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $20-35. 412-456-6666 or trustarts.org Given Pittsburgh’s rich history of jazz, it’s perhaps fitting that the internationally acclaimed Urban Bush Women return with a program celebrating John William Coltrane. On their last visit, in 2008, UBW presented the…
Passage of Pennsylvania’s medical-marijuana law won’t mean immediate relief for suffering patients
One way or another, it looks like Pennsylvania’s medical-marijuana law will finally be decided. Over the past two years, the bill has been debated and stalled; it’s even passed the state Senate twice without ever being brought forward for debate on the state House floor. And while the bill will come up for a debate…
A Lesson Before Dying at Prime Stage Theatre
A LESSON BEFORE DYING continues through Sun., March 13. Prime Stage Theatre at the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. $10-25. primestage.com There I was at Prime Stage Theatre’s production of Ernest J. Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying, swimming in tears, thinking that the last time I’d cried so painfully was the…
Pittsburgh’s marijuana-decriminalization effort hits a snag
Pittsburgh revelers planning on toking up during this weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities might want to rethink it. Despite the decriminalization of marijuana in the city last year by Pittsburgh City Council, you’ll still get charged with a misdemeanor if you’re caught. Under the ordinance, marijuana possession would be punishable by a civil fine of…
The Pirates of Penzance at Pittsburgh Savoyards
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE continues through Sun., March 13. The Pittsburgh Savoyards at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, 300 Beechwood Ave., Carnegie. $12-25. 412-734-8476 or pittsburghsavoyards.org A time-honored classic of the Gilbert and Sullivan canon, The Pirates of Penzance is the perfect operetta for purists and newcomers alike. The story is simple:…
Reporter Curt Guyette talks about breaking the Flint water-crisis story
FROM FLINT … TO YOUR FAUCET with Curt Guyette 7-9 p.m. Tue., March 15. Lawrence Hall, Point Park campus, Downtown. Free. RSVP at flint2faucet.eventbrite.com. Journalist Curt Guyette’s work uncovering the water crisis in Flint, Mich., helped break one of the biggest stories of 2015. That story, in turn, grew out of Guyette’s unusual job description:…
Fajer Kaisi stars in the Public’s production of Disgraced
DISGRACED March 10-April 10. Pittsburgh Public Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Downtown. $15.75-60. 412-316-1600 or ppt.org Like many actors of color, Fajer Kaisi often finds his opportunities on stage and screen limited in number and range. “It’s usually falafel guy, cabbie or terrorist,” quips the Iraq-born Kaisi, who grew up a Canadian citizen. “Maybe counterterrorist, if…
Pittsburgh filmmaker talks about his new documentary on furries
FURSONAS 7 p.m. Thu., March 10. Regent Square Theater, 1035 S. Braddock Ave., Regent Square. $10. Tickets at eventbrite.com Each summer in Pittsburgh, bipedal foxes, wolves, horses and the like can be seen waving from the Downtown streets outside of the Westin Convention Center hotel, on Liberty Avenue. These anthropomorphic-enamored folks are gathered for the…
Pittsburgh Ballet program mines inspirations from Johnny Cash to Auguste Rodin
PITTSBURGH BALLET THEATRE performs MIXED REPERTORY #2 Thu., March 10, through Sun., March 13. Byham Theater, 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $28-110. 412-456-6666 or pbt.org Personal connections inform Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre artistic director Terrence S. Orr’s choice of works on the company’s Mixed Repertory #2 program, with four performances March 10-13 at the Byham Theater. Orr…
This Week in City Paper History
I think enough time has passed that I can finally say what a lot of media types around here were thinking between 2006 and 2014: Luke Ravenstahl was an asshole. But this was the week that we all had waited for. Plagued by scandals and just plain tired of being mayor, Ravenstahl decided not to…
Embrace of the Serpent
Embrace of the Serpent Directed by Ciro Guerra Starring Nilbio Torres, Antonio Bolivar Salvador, Jan Bivot, Brionne Davis In various languages, with subtitles Starts Fri., March 11. Regent Square Ciro Guerra’s beautifully filmed black-and-white drama Embrace of the Serpent drops us deep into the Amazonian jungle of Colombia, at the beginning of the last century.…
Wysocki: Nobody cares about your March Madness bracket
March Madness is about to descend upon us. It’s the time of year when everyone becomes an expert on college hoops. The worst part about the Madness is people talking about their brackets. Brackets are like opinions — everybody has one. But I’m here to tell you: Nobody cares about your brackets! Please stop posting…
The Club
The Chilean drama The Club, from Pablo Larraín (2012’s No), might be spare, but it packs a lot into its loosely plotted and deceptively low-key spaces. In a small seaside town, four men and a woman — four former Catholic priests and a former nun — share a house. They are intentionally isolated, having committed…
Savage Love
I’m your average straight 42-year-old white guy. Married for a little less than a year (second marriage for both). We have an active sex life and are both GGG. My wife wants to be forcibly fucked — held down and raped. Normally I’d be all over this because I do love me some rough sex.…
Fursonas
This new documentary from Pittsburgh director Dominic Rodriguez delves into the semi-secret world of furries, or those humans who feel kinship with anthropomorphic animals. Locally, of course, the furries are well known for the annual Anthrocon convention, which fills Downtown’s streets with foxes, wolves, dragons and more (that is, folks in full “fur suits”). Rodriguez,…
Storming the Castle: It’s time for UPMC workers to reclaim their unionization fight
The scene outside UPMC’s Downtown headquarters on March 3, 2014, resembled something out of medieval times. The US Steel Tower was like a castle rising out of the pavement, with sentinels guarding the entrance. At the base of the structure, thousands of villagers had assembled because they’d had enough of the king’s tyranny. They wanted…
The Legend of Barney Thomson
The titular Barney (Robert Carlyle) is a hapless, friendless barber working in a shop in Glasgow, Scotland. He has no patter for the customers and his co-workers say he “looks like a haunted tree.” But on the brink of being fired, Thomson accidentally kills a man, and in the way of darkly comic shaggy-dog tales,…
Self-Portrait as the Apostle Paul
In the mirror, I don’t have a beard but I could grow one if I wished, like an erection, strong and sharp as the sword of a man of God. Today morning comes in like the Turkish sun, a cut of light so sharp all else falls to shadow behind me. With a towel wrapped…
London Has Fallen
I don’t want to sound like a bad person who enjoys a good media-friendly disaster, but I thought a situation where a major world capital is utterly paralyzed by a band of terrorists and at least a dozen world leaders are assassinated would be a lot more interesting. Instead, Babak Najafi’s sequel to Olympus Has…
Stuff We Like
Arnold’s Tea. This North Side café offers a variety of teas, small bites and Wi-Fi. Tables face large windows, an optimal set-up for people-watching. 502 E. Ohio St. Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. This smaller airport in Latrobe offers short security lines, an old-school Italian restaurant and low-cost flights to fun destinations like Florida and Las…
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Finally! A feel-good movie about our misadventures in Afghanistan. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa’s comedy adapts American journalist Kim Barker’s memoir The Taliban Shuffle, which recounts the time she spent in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2006. Barker is re-named Baker for the film, and portrayed with typical semi-detached brio by Tina Fey. Viewers get a…
Short List: March 9 – 14
SPOTLIGHT: Sat., March 12 — Stage Playwright Mark Clayton Southers is known for contemporary-set works like Ma Noah and James McBride. But his latest play looks backward. Miss Julie, Clarissa and John was inspired by Miss Julie, August Strindberg’s classic 1888 drama about an aristocrat’s affair with her father’s valet. Southers moves the action to…
Post- “Call Me Maybe,” pop-star-next-door Carly Rae Jepsen hits her stride
CARLY RAE JEPSEN with CARDIKNOX, FAIRGROUND SAINTS. 8:10 p.m. Fri., March 18. Mr. Smalls, 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. $25. 412-821-4447 or www.mrsmalls.com. The last time Carly Rae Jepsen was slated to play Pittsburgh it was opening for Justin Bieber at the Consol Energy Center. She was riding the “Call Me Maybe” wave then — a…
Muddy Waters Oyster Bar
Muddy Waters Oyster Bar 130 S. Highland Ave., East Liberty. 412-361-0555 Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 4:30-11 p.m.; Fri. 4:30 p.m.-midnight; Sat. 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-midnight; Sun. 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4:30-10 p.m. Prices: Snacks and sides $4-7; small plates and sandwiches $8-20; large plates $22-29 Liquor: Full bar Raw bars are great —…
Lynn Cullen 3/09/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Primary recap. Taylor Force. New bacterial infection. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
City Paper Podcast, or “Untitled” – Episode 008
This week on the City Paper podcast, we talk about the gender gap on Wikipedia; the lead crisis in Flint, Mich., and concerns about lead in Pittsburgh; and eat lunch with the Pittsburgh Lenten Fish Fry Map creator.
City Paper talks to ‘Fursonas’ director, Boomer the Dog
Video by Ashley Murray and Aaron Warnick
Lynn Cullen 03/08/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Trump. Wisconsin justice addresses past hateful columns. Erin Andrews wins settlement. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Lynn Cullen 3/07/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Nancy Reagan dies at 94. End of Downtown Abbey. Media outlets and responsibility. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
