Storytelling series debuts
WordPlay, a new quarterly storytelling series, had a strong first showing this past Friday. Details in Program Notes.
Kendrick Lamar Reigns Supreme
Best new hip-hop takes Pittsburgh stage in the form of Kendrick Lamar and TDE crew.
Storytelling series debuts
Quarterly “WordPlay” has strong opening night
City installing more bike racks Downtown
Additional racks due in other neighborhoods
Mutt Strut
Pittsburgh City Paper was on-site Sunday June 2 for Mutt Strut, Animal Friends’ dog walk and 5K! Mutt Strut included a pledge walk, vendor fair and had plenty of pet-friendly activities! And best of all, it supports Pittsburgh’s premier companion animal resource center!
Lynn Cullen Live 06/4/13
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; Pens & Pirates aren’t looking so good; Michael Douglas, throat cancer & oral sex; HPV is a leading cause of cervical cancer for women; LGBTQIA & what it all means; why is there a need to label everything?; Warrior Princess — memoir by former Navy Seal who became a woman…
Rainbow Ride scheduled for Pride
Kick off a weekend of Pittsburgh Pride with Flock of Cycles, which is sponsoring a Rainbow Ride on Fri., June 14. Riders are meeting at 6 p.m. at Dippy the Dinosaur on Forbes Avenue in Oakland in front of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The ride departs at 6:30 p.m. It will be at…
Cultural Trust Announces New Festival of Firsts
Artists and performers from Europe, Australia and Canada offer a month-long series of U.S. premieres starting in September. A gigantic rubber duck floating up the Allegheny River is also involved. See more in Program Notes.
Cultural Trust Announces New Festival of Firsts
Artists and performers from Europe, Australia and Canada offer series of U.S. premieres
Lynn Cullen Live 06/3/13
Video Archive Why would anyone still want to live in Oklahoma?; two poems by Billy Collins; Obit: Dr. Dean Brooks, superintendent of a psychiatric hospital, both featured in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; tweets used for mapping different info: where the most racists are, happiest & saddest cities, etc…; government whistle-blowers; Christians are in…
Molchany hosting open house tomorrow — and grilling!
State Rep. Erin Molchany, D-Brookline, will hold her first Spring Open House tomorrow at her Brookline office. Members of the public are invited to attend the event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sat. June 1, at 900 Brookline Blvd. Attendees can learn if they have any unclaimed property held by the state Treasury, are…
County picks new Health Department Director
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald today announced the selection of Dr. Karen A. Hacker as the new director of the Allegheny Health Department. Hacker is currently the senior medical director for public and community health for the Cambridge Health Alliance in Cambridge, Mass. She is also the Chief Medical Officer at the Cambridge Public Health…
Neuroscientist Addresses Zombie Science
Dr. Timothy Verstynen’s talk is titled, “The Living Dead Brain: What Human Brains Teach us about Zombie Minds.”
Review: JEFF the Brotherhood, Hunters & Chrome Moses at the Brillobox, May 24
JEFF the Brotherhood seems to have amassed a large Pittsburgh following in the years since I first saw them on tour with Pentagram several years ago. Last year’s Thanksgiving show at Howlers was a total party, and those who packed Brillobox last Friday night seemed primed for something similar. First, there was local three piece…
Things We Like to See
Tiny dogs wearing skull sweaters, sitting in shop windows
Dems’ Mayoral Nominee in Comedy Show
Bill Peduto guests on comedian’s stage show
Lynn Cullen Live 05/31/13
Video Archive Pirates & Penguins lookin’ good; climate change causing pollen plague; itch is the cause, not the effect!; Chicago Sun-Times laid off entire photo staff; explanation of why we saw almost no voters from Penn-Trafford / Norwin areas; The Wire – comparable to Shakespeare; poverty & public education; # of kids getting killed in…
Pittsburgh Pro-Poultry People offer tour of city chicken coops
A group of volunteer chicken farmers who “seek to promote the joy of chickens and the freedom to design and build small structures within the city without permit requirements” are offering a one-day, self-guided tour of coops on the North Side and East End Sunday, June 9.
BREAKING: State Rep. Jesse White might be a troll (UPDATED)
State Rep. Jesse White, a Democrat from southwestern Pennsylvania, has long been a foe of the Marcellus Shale gas-drilling industry. But he may be as prone to dangerous flare-ups as a shoddily constructed gas well. Last night, KDKA-TV’s Andy Sheehan reported that White may have been was (see below) criticizing gas-industry supporters under cover of…
Lynn Cullen Live 05/30/13
Video Archive Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Audio Only Archive
The Peduto interview: director’s cut
For hard-core political junkies, here’s the extended version of my interview with Bill Peduto last week, just 48 hours after becoming the Democratic nominee in the city’s mayoral race. The bonus material includes more election-night emotions, campaign tactics, his next chief of staff — will it be Kevin Acklin? — and his expectations for Mayor…
Pittsburgh Public Market offers a smorgasbord of local performing talent.
PITTSBURGH PUBLIC MARKET OPEN STAGE 1:30 p.m. Sun., June 2 (hosted by alternative band The Unsmokable Brokes) and the first Sunday of each month. Smallman and 17th streets, Strip District. Free. events@pittsburgh publicmarket.org At the Pittsburgh Public Market, you can find local vendors selling produce, meat and dairy. But this Strip District buffet includes more…
Short List: May 29 – June 6
Spotlight: Fri., May 31 — Words When he moved to Pittsburgh from Los Angeles, in 2011, one thing Alan Olifson left behind was WordPlay. The standup comedian had created this series for literary storytelling as an outlet for comic essays read aloud and enhanced by music from a live DJ. (Inspirations included radio’s This American…
After retooling her career, Beth Corning returns with a new solo dance work.
CORNINGWORKS presents REMAINS Wed., June 5, through Sun., June 9. New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. $25-30 (June 9 show is pay-what-you-can). 888-718-4253 or newhazletttheater.org If necessity is the mother of invention, perhaps change is the mother of reinvention. Such was the case for Beth Corning. After a string of life-changing events,…
Reel Slick
on a walk down the dock, we tell drunk stories, trade histories, past shipwrecks revisited. our voices hull Eat, Drink and Re-marry laden air sticks to our skin. the tide slaps. my mind awash. we cross coordinates. Seaduction Second Chances I pay less attention to the drifting of our bare feet against wet wood than…
Fast and Furious 6
Fast and Furious 6 Directed by: Justin Lin Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson Justin Lin’s Fast and Furious 6 is everything fans of the franchise want: good-looking people; souped-up cars; car chases; car wrecks; chick fights; guy fights; clutch-poppin’ and downshifting; exotic locales; villains with cheesy facial hair; a plot that makes so…
All India
All India 315 N. Craig St., Oakland. 412-681-6600 Hours: Tue.-Thu. lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., dinner 5-10 p.m.; Fri. lunch 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., dinner 5-10:30 p.m.; Sat. lunch noon-3 p.m., dinner 5-10:30 p.m.; Sun. lunch noon-3 p.m., dinner 5-10 p.m. Prices: Appetizers $4-10; entrees $9-19 Liquor: BYOB A little India, of sorts, is growing around the…
Kon-Tiki
Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg docu-drama Kon-Tiki is a recreation of a recreation, but it’s nonetheless a story that bears repeating to a new generation of armchair adventurers. This real-life ripping yarn is set in 1947, when Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen) and five plucky companions set out to prove that Polynesia could…
Internet Café: Google’s cafeteria makes employees say OMG
The memory of the lunch makes my stomach growl: smoked-salmon cheesecake with horseradish; mushrooms pickled in vinegar infused with coriander, jalapeño, bay leaves and mustard seeds; honey-brined chicken with lemon and sage; and Gruyere mac-and-cheese. That it was served in an office cafeteria where such meals are the norm makes me contemplate offers I would…
Band of Sisters
“We are the risk-takers of the Church,” explains one Roman Catholic nun. “We are down with the people. We know what the needs are.” Mary Fishman’s documentary profiles a number of American nuns who, since being released from habits and cloisters by Vatican II in the 1960s, have reinvented what it means to serve their…
Mastro Ice provides cold comfort to local mixologists
Making ice might not seem like a big deal to most of us — take water, put in freezer — but perfecting the craft is an art. “Everything we do is high tech — for ice,” says Joe Mastro. He and his brother Mike have been producing top-shelf ice at their Polish Hill location since…
The Hangover Part III
A hangover is proof that a lesson in control was not learned. And indeed, the only lesson in evidence for this unwarranted “epic finale to the Hangover trilogy” (per Warner Bros.) is that still more cash can be squeezed out of a very tired comic premise, directed again by Todd Phillips. Honestly, nobody even tries…
Food and beverage are critical components of campaign events
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, politicians often say. Except on Election Night, when candidates lay out victory-party spreads for the faithful. Owing to professional ethics, I generally refrain from sampling the buffet line. But eating is a social — and thus political — ritual, and politicians know it. District 4 City Councilor…
Justin Sane talks about 20 years of Anti-Flag
ANTI-FLAG 20TH ANNIVERSARY SHOWS. 7 p.m. Thu., May 30, and Fri., May 31. Mr. Small’s Theatre 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. $15-17 ($28 two-day pass). All ages. 412-828-4447 or mrsmalls.com Justin Sane is the founding singer and guitarist of Anti-Flag. The Pittsburgh-based political punk band is now older than many of its fans, and is celebrating…
A big anniversary for Mr. Small’s
MR. SMALL’S 10th ANNIVERSARY SERIES. May 30-June 14. Mr. Small’s Theatre, 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. 412-821-4447 or mrsmalls.com Anti-Flag’s 20th-anniversary concerts are part of another anniversary celebration: Mr. Small’s, the 650-capacity venue in a former church in Millvale, is celebrating 10 years in operation. What began as a skate park, venue and recording studio is…
Tom Weber documents the lifestyles of not-so-famous musicians
PETER CASE with THE DAMAGED PIES. 7 p.m., Thu., May 30. Club Café, 56 S. 12th St., South Side. $15-17. 412-431-4950 or clubcafelive.com. More information: tomweberfilms.com While working on Don’t Give Up Your Day Job — a documentary exploring the lives of “hidden musicians”— filmmaker Tom Weber met Steve Bodner, of local band The Damaged…
Critics’ Picks: May 29 – June 4
[INDIE POP] + FRI., MAY 31 Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk write music that is, quite simply, charming as all hell. Making use of pianos, ukuleles, horns and what sometimes seems like dozens of other instruments, they produce a sound that is not only pleasant, but also incredibly full and multifaceted. Each song…
On the record with musical saw player Erika Laing
PITTSBURGH MUSICAL SAW FESTIVAL featuring FAITHFUL SINNERS, BUDDY NUTT, THE WAYWARD STRANGERS, ROE FAMILY SINGERS. 9 p.m. Thu., May 30. Thunderbird Café, 4023 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $5. 412-682-0177 or thunderbirdcafe.net Erika Laing of the local duo Faithful Sinners organized the first ever Pittsburgh Musical Saw Festival, which includes three local acts and one touring act,…
Winning Big
Bill Peduto sat down with City Paper two days after becoming the Democratic nominee to be the city’s next mayor — a goal he has pursued for the better part of a decade. An extended version of this interview can be found here. So congratulations on being the Democratic nominee. Have you gotten to meet…
Fired cop acquitted of criminal charges wants to go back to work
Garrett Brown’s criminal trial may have ended with an acquittal on insurance fraud on May 20, but the former city police officer’s legal saga is far from over: His attorney says he hopes to rejoin the police force. “He should absolutely get his job back,” says William H. Difenderfer, Brown’s attorney. “He just wants to…
Variety breeds success at Arcade Comedy Theater
Next at ARCADE COMEDY THEATER: Live stage reading of the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 8 and 10 p.m. Fri., May 31. $10 Dodge Intrepid and the Pages of Time (comic classic-radio-style adventure serial), 8 and 10 p.m. Sat., June 1. $10 811 Liberty Ave., Downtown. 412-339-0608 or arcadecomedytheater.com Three months ago, a group of…
Making History
On Penn Avenue in Garfield, in the Center for PostNatural History, we enter the realm of the truly weird. Here there are Biosteel goats, which have been gene-spliced with silkworms to produce milk laced with spider silk, whose incredibly strong fibers are used for body armor. There are the GloFish, whose eerie underwater colors are…
Mark Perrott turns his lens on prison graffitti inside Western Penitentiary.
E BLOCK continues through June 14. Pittsburgh Filmmakers Gallery, 477 Melwood Ave., Oakland. 412-681-5449 or pittsburgharts.org What is justice, exactly? Isn’t justice just systematized revenge? A man kills your spouse, so he disappears to a concrete box for the rest of his life. Someone steals your TV, so he endures some months of cafeteria fights.…
A Tale of Two Cities
Jack Wagner’s election-night party wasn’t like a wake, exactly. The scene at the South Side’s IBEW ballroom, where supporters awaited results in the city’s mayoral race, was more like a 50th-wedding anniversary celebration … one where everyone knows the marriage is on the rocks. A few blocks and a world away, City Councilor Bill Peduto’s…
Little Lake’s Miracle on South Division Street
MIRACLE ON SOUTH DIVISION STREET continues through June 8. Little Lake Theatre, 500 Lakeside Drive (off Route 19), North Strabane. $12-20. 724-745-6300 or littlelake.org That large object hovering above Little Lake Theatre Co.’s production of Miracle on South Division Street is Disbelief, trying mightily to remain suspended. There’s a good chance you won’t see it…
Savage Love
I’m seeing an amazing guy who I met doing sex work — as in, he was paying me for sex. We share a lot of interests and have a great connection, and the sex is awesome. When I was seeing him for pay, I would think, “I would totally date this guy.” We transitioned to…
