Presents for you: Sin Ropas MP3!
Hey readerfriend! Sorry about the lack of MP3 Monday this week. It was MP3 Memorial Day, and I was MP3 barbequeing. But, as proof that I still love you and want you to be happy, I have a special gift for you. In this week’s issue, you’ll find a Short List entry I wrote about…
Fuels rush in: Excerpts from Obama’s CMU speech
So courtesy of the White House, here’s an advance copy of excerpts from the speech President Obama is set to give at CMU this afternoon. I’d have posted it sooner, but I wanted to find a reference to an actual policy proposal first. And as you’ll see, that took awhile. It’s not until the second-to-last…
Jitney at Pittsburgh Playwrights
As of this writing, it’s the final week to catch this splendid new production of the first-written installment of August Wilson’s famed Century Cycle (or, as Pittsburghers like to call it, his “Pittsburgh Cycle”). “As of this writing” because the production’s been so successful — hard-scrapping little Playwrights’ best-attended show ever — that last week…
Could Scaife get his hands on Newsweek?
Somebody get the 2 Political Junkies on the phone. Dick Scaife’s web o’ influence might — just might — expand to include a nationally known weekly magazine. As you may have heard, Newsweek is bust and looking for a buyer. And according to a Wall Street Journal dispatch late last week, among the interested parties…
E.O. Wilson at the Carnegie
The great biologist and author was in town yesterday to pick up his Rachel Carson Legacy Award, for six decades of scientific research and raising awareness on environmental issues. The award, amusingly, was a Frabel-glass fire ant. (From the audience at the Carnegie Music Hall, the figurine looked about 10 inches long.) On the one…
Peduto seeks ethics ruling on Ravenstahl appointment
Late this afternoon, city councilor Bill Peduto formally requested the city’s Ethics Board to look into Adam Ravenstahl’s being named to the board of Alcosan. Adam Ravenstahl, of course, is the brother of mayor Luke Ravenstahl. Addressed to board chair Sister Patrice Hughes, the letter notes that tby the terms of the city code,…
Weekend wind-up
A rough week of first-job and second-job and third-volunteer-job duties behind me, I find myself looking forward to a weekend of chillin’, grillin’, illin’ and doing nothing that seems remotely like work. But before I do that, I have to tell you about shows that are happening. Some of them are shows at which you…
Involvement by Bill Clinton? THAT should keep the right-wing quiet (UPDATE)
The White House has now responded to simmering concerns surrounding Joe Sestak. And it turns out Bill Clinton played a role in what was supposedly a job offer to encourage Sestak to drop out of the race. The most important thing here is that White House is claiming that what Sestak was offered was an…
More on the Treehouse proposal
So today’s Post-Gazette offers some clarity on the great treehouse dispute, and I’ll try to further flesh out matters below. First off, it’s worth noting that city councilor Doug Shields is now acknowledging that a staffer said something “inappropriate” to Amy Ambrusko in a phone conversation — something he denied, sort of, in comments to…
Those who argue over treehouses should not throw stones (UPDATED)
Or something. Treehousegate has now gone to the NEXT LEVEL. Not long ago, Doug Shields’ office released the following statement, blaming the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy for doing a bad job of speaking with the community. The Conservancy did not fulfill its obligation to communicate with all parties when it partnered with Amy Ambrusko to create…
Bubbling Over
Onorato wins with a campaign that comes full circle
Turning the Page
Prison-lit program may be dropping TMC affiliation
Turn Over
City hands over G-20 docs and some confiscated protest materials
Due Date
As deadline looms, what are legislators doing to prevent another budget disaster?
Short List: Week of May 27 – June 3
Thu., May 27 — Stage Tammy Ryan ranks among Pittsburgh’s top current playwrights, with productions acclaimed here and elsewhere. She follows works like The Music Lesson and Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods with A Confluence of Dreaming. It’s about a suburban housewife discovering both the sexy side of the Web and the risks of…
Consol Energy Center holding a contest to guess who opens the house
Apparently Lady Gaga’s appearance at the Consol Energy Center in the fall won’t be the first concert there — the venue just announced that it’s holding a contest in which participants guess who the first show will be. It’s slated for August and is being characterized by the venue as: “huge.” Ideas? I’m thinking it…
Picnic Time
Summer is usually the time for vacation getaways, but as Pittsburgh basks in a year of accolades — most livable? again? — the time seems right to focus close to home. (Plus most of that gas we were gonna buy for road-tripping is getting sucked down by sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico.) Two…
Kids
Ongoing The Andy Warhol Museum. Ongoing activities for kids include hands-on fun in the “Weekend Factory” and more. North Side. 412-237-8300 or www.warhol.org Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Branches of the library offer storytelling hours and more all summer. Events range from “Family Program: Storytime” to “Baby and Me” for rhymes, stories and other activities. Various…
Outdoors
Ongoing Big League Sports Organized programs for kids include baseball, softball, soccer, and track and field. Sponsored by Citiparks. 412-488-8585 Bike Pittsburgh This cycling advocacy group sponsors a series of group rides and other events throughout the summer. 412-325-4334 or www.bike-pgh.org Critical Mass Bike Ride Group bike ride through the city. Last Friday of every…
Summer Arts
Art & Exhibits CURRENT 15 Minutes Gallery. Art by Burton Morris, through Aug. 31. 28 West Second Gallery. Group Exhibition: Kyle Fischer, Stephen Haynes & Mike Prather, through May 29. 707 Penn Gallery. dark & shiny night (photographs by Robert Raczka), through June 13. 709 Penn Gallery. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Photographs by Abelardo…
Summer Plays
Current First Voice Festival. A showcase for local African-American performing artists, through May 29 (August Wilson Center). The Blonde, The Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead. Tony-winner Michele Pawk, a Butler native, plays seven roles in Robert Hewett’s one-performer comedy, through May 30 (City Theatre). I Gotcha! The Story of Joe Tex and the Soul Clan.…
Fairs, Festivals and Special Events
Through November Citiparks farmers’ markets, open now and conveniently located in East Liberty, South Side, Bloomfield, the City-County Building and Allegheny Commons Park, North Side. Carrick and Beechview markets open in June. Eat well; eat local. 412-422-6547 or www.citiparks.net May 30 Animal Friends Mutt Strut, Riverfront Park, North Side. Games, activities and pooches. 412-847-7000…
Summer Music
May 26 El Fuego. Garfield Artworks Shattered Hymen, Needle Gun, Jason Soliday, Hot Dirt 99, Half Nelson, RJ Myato. The Shop May 27 Koji, Wayne Beck. Club Café Zach Deputy. Thunderbird Café Budgie. Diesel Summer Lungs, Derek and the Darling, Lord Grunge. Smiling Moose Philadelphia Slick. Shadow Lounge Isaac Russell. Hard Rock Café The…
Summer Films
Last summer was something of a respite from the usual deluge of sequels and remakes. But whatever we missed last season has surely been doubled for our dubious pleasure in 2010. June 11 must be the designated cheesy-’80s-remake day: Joe Carnahan delivers the big-screen version of the TV show, The A-Team, starring Bradley Cooper and…
Rivas
A Nicaraguan restaurant makes a third stand in the local dining scene.
Shrek Forever After
Shrek 4, directed by Mike Mitchell, opens one year after the events of the quite tedious Shrek 3. Shrek is in the throes of an identity crisis, and foolishly makes a bargain that negates his entire life. Shrek becomes a fearsome ogre again, but everything else sucks: Far Far Away is all dark and grimy,…
His first novel in tow, famed biologist and conservationist E.O. Wilson visits Pittsburgh.
“The foibles of ants, Raff learned, are those of humans, written in a simpler grammar,” Wilson writes.
Mysterious Object
It looks like a carnival ride designed by a surrealist.
Dixie Swim Club
There’s something about Dixie Swim Club that somehow manages to inoculate you against its own sweetness.
I Gotcha
You get performances full of talent, energy and personality.
Othello
Javon Jackson brings forth the depth and breadth of Othello’s soul, the vital force.
This Just In: May 27 – June 3
Highlights from the local TV news: Guess Who’s Running for Governor?
Local rockers Round Black Ghosts release Line Up
Lyrically, Round Black Ghosts tackles a lot of different subjects that range from wolves and magic to robots.
Gina Favano releases solo album under the name Evil Twin
Favano includes strange warbling screams and strums the guitars and banjos to where they detune and buzz like a sitar.
Local band The Reckoning recreates two hours of REM’s classics
“I don’t paint a stripe on my face or have a shaved head, and no one’s up there in flamboyant cowboy outfits like Mike Mills.”
Old Time Relijun frontman Arrington de Dionyso performs with new project
In another time, he might have been a charismatic or an ascetic; today, he’s a bizarre brand of rock star.
A Conversation with April Smith
“I’m a huge fan of the show Dexter, and I think that’s where that song came from.”
Janoski’s Farm and Greenhouse
A family-run farm with deep roots in vegetables – and candles
Black Moth Super Rainbow’s Tobacco releases second album, featuring Beck
Tobacco invites you to pass the bong and step from the couch to the dance floor.
Renaissance tapestries did more than glorify power (though they did plenty of that, too).
Revelry is at its height in each tapestry, though with moderate editorializing.
Savage Love
Where can a straight guy find a transsexual woman who is NOT a hooker and just wants to be friends (with benefits)? I know they are out there, but I just can’t find them! Help a brother out! PLEASE! Lonely Tranny Lover If what you’re looking for is a transsexual who’ll allow you to…
Government reform a pipe dream, ALCOSAN appointment shows
I’m a little late with the news that the mayor has appointed his brother, state Rep.-elect Adam Ravenstahl, to the Alcosan board. And others have already hashed out the question of whether such an appointment violates a city ethics rule barring the appointment of relatives. I’d just like to point out that this is the…
