Ravenstahl announces support of same-sex marriage rights
In its ongoing campaign for same-sex marriage rights, the Mayors for Freedom to Marry Campaign has received the support from Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. Earlier today, Ravenstahl signed a statement asserting that he “proudly stand[s] in support of the freedom of same-sex couples to marry … I look forward to working to build an America…
Lynn Cullen Live 06/05/12
Video Archive Phone Guest: Susan; Wisconsin election; Queen’s Jubilee; Prince Philip looking good for 91; old farts who can’t sing anymore shouldn’t go on tour; Orie sister update; Venus in transit; motorized dead cat; man stabs himself, throws intestines at police; what a plant knows — it’s more than you think!; Pittsburgh Port Authority crisis;…
Braddock’s Tony Buba Honored with Prestigious New York Screenings
Buba has spent his whole career — some four decades — documenting life in his half-forgotten blue-collar hometown. But now he’s getting some long-overdue national-level notice, with a generous five-day retrospective at arguably the choicest cinematic venue in New York, if not the country. Plan your road trip now: From Fri., June 8, through June…
Lynn Cullen Live 06/04/12
Video Archive Guests: none. New device that scans the palm of your hand and can immediately tell how many veggies you’ve eaten. Popular singer in Iran is an Israelian. First time both Presidential candidates are non-veterans. Wisconsin voting; attorneys are being lined up to handle potential of a vote recount. Obituary; Dick Beals. Book; Amped…
“War on Science” Lecture at Science Center
Countless politicians claim we’re in the midst of a “war on Christmas” or a “war on religion.” But John Radzilowicz, director of science and education at the Carnegie Science Center, believes there’s a more important battle taking place: a war on science. Radzilowicz, who teaches at Pitt and California University of Pennsylvania, lectures Monday night…
Lynn Cullen Live 06/01/12
Video Archive Smithfield Cafe & George Aikens have closed their doors; John Edwards acquittal & mistrial; Pirates back at 500…for now; Three Rivers Arts Festival starts today — so of course it’s raining; Tony Buba’s Braddock documentaries recognized in NY; UPMC causes Braddock & Forbes hospitals to shut down; Jim Furlow sends letter of support…
Lynn Cullen Live 05/31/12
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski; celebrities are working stiffs too; NYC banning soda beverages over 16 oz.; famous almondina cookie baker is also a musician/conductor; not everybody benefits from exercise; Michelle Obama hunches around shorter people; Three Rivers Arts Festival: why it’s good & why it’s not; glass blowing; art is the permanent revolution; Eames…
Last Call at the Smithfield Cafe
“Kitchen is Closed — Bar Still Open,” read the hastily hand-lettered sign on the front door of the Downtown landmark last Friday night. Longtime owner John Petrolias, whose Greek-immigrant father opened the restaurant in 1933, had announced its closing the day after the bank foreclosed on the building. Located on the 600 block of Smithfield…
Critics’ Picks: June 1 – 6
[BLUES ROCK] + FRI., JUNE 1 On their own, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks are venerable blues powerhouses. So when they came together off-stage via nuptials — and onstage with the Tedeschi Trucks Band — it was bound to be a fruitful marriage. (The band’s first album, Revelator, won a Grammy this year.) The group…
Bad Connections — w4m (Pittsburgh)
DANZIG LEGACY TOUR — SHOW CANCELLED The Danzig Legacy Tour show scheduled for Tues., June 5 was cancelled as of … Tues., June 5. Refunds available at point of purchase. More info: 412-229-5483 or www.stageae.com You: short, muscular Killer Wolf, possible demon, legendary front man for The Misfits, Samhain and Danzig. Me: the girl on…
Put asunder; same-sex unions joined elsewhere lose control back in Pa.
Pennsylvania lawmakers don’t want my girlfriend and me to ever get married. But once we’re married out of state, those same officials seem equally intent that we never, ever part. At least not without a lengthy court battle. Thanks to Pennsylvania’s “Defense of Marriage Act,” which defines marriage solely as being between a man and…
Conflicting reports: stories differ about Pittsburgh native’s in-custody death at state prison
This much is clear: On April 26, John Carter died in his prison cell. Beyond that, not much is certain. And disputed details are developing into a conflict between state officials, who say Carter’s death involved no foul play, and prisoner-rights groups who suspect he was killed by unchecked, over-aggressive corrections officers. A 32-year-old Pittsburgh…
The Cycle of Pro-Life
It’s getting to the point where state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Mordor) and his fundamentalist cronies just make me tired. When they gather for some anti-choice conclave, as pro-life legislators and activists did for a May 23 press conference, you can tell they’re caught up in feeling Born Again. I, meanwhile, just end up wondering, “Haven’t…
Intriguing components don’t quite cohere under a theme in Global Navigators
GLOBAL NAVIGATORS continues through June 17. Wood Street Galleries 601 Wood St. 412-471-5605 Space 812 Liberty Ave. 412-325-7723 707 Penn Gallery 707 Penn Ave. 412-325-7017. All Downtown. In his statement introducing Global Navigators, curator Murray Horne writes: “We navigate with ease today with online directions and satellite signaling.” Can these words truly come from someone…
Savage Love
I’m a straight male from Southern California and I really want to be a straight male escort. The problem is the industry is shrouded with deceptive “agencies” that take advantage of the situation. Also, it’s not like there’s a Male Escort 101 course that I can take to learn how to avoid these traps. Do…
Thommy Conroy’s Fabled
FABLED continues through June 12. Mendelson Gallery 5873 Ellsworth Ave. Shadyside. 412-361-8664 or thommyconroy.com A garden gnome stands on a pedestal. His stout body is painted gold. He is decapitated, and his severed head lies next to his feet. But rather than a bloody stump, his rubbly neck twinkles like pyrite. Instead of a face contorted with pain…
Short List: May 30 – June 6
It’s the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival, and you know the drill — but maybe not all of it. The 53rd annual incarnation sets up in Point State Park, Gateway Center and their Downtown environs June 1-10. As usual, look for arts-and-crafts vendors, a big indoor Juried Visual Art Exhibition, live music (daily both…
Girls Only — The Secret Comedy of Women
GIRLS ONLY — THE SECRET COMEDY OF WOMEN continues through Sept. 2. Pittsburgh CLO Cabaret Theater Downtown 412-456-6666 or clocabaret.com I still have my copy of Titters (Collier Books), the groundbreaking 1976 anthology dedicated to knocking the long-held proposition: “Chicks ain’t got no sense of humor.” And as the ladies behind Girls Only — The…
D’Imperio’s
D’Imperio’s 3412 William Penn Highway Wilkins Township. 412-823-4800 Hours: Sun.-Mon. 4:30-10 p.m.; Tue. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Wed.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Prices: Antipasti, soups, salads $5-11; entrees $19-28 Liquor: Full bar At D’Imperio’s, a white-tablecloth Italian restaurant in Wilkins Township, Tony D’Imperio has been wining and dining the denizens of Pittsburgh’s eastern suburbs since we were…
The Fox on the Fairway
THE FOX ON THE FAIRWAY continues through June 9. Little Lake Theatre 500 Lakeside Drive South (off Route 19) Canonsburg. 724-745-6300 or littlelaketheatre.org If you’re going out to Little Lake Theatre to see the Pittsburgh premiere of Ken Ludwig’s The Fox on the Fairway, I would advise you to skip the playwright’s note in the…
South Side Beer Snobs Have a New Buddy
Glance at the flashy orange-and-yellow neon sign advertising “Buddy’s Brews on Carson,” and it’s easy to suspect you’re looking at a new bar. This is East Carson Street, after all … and inside, you’ll find polished hardwood floors and a flat-screen TV. Buddy’s, however, is in fact a beer distributor, owned by South Sider Jake…
New offerings from Unseam’d Shakespeare, Pittsburgh Irish & Classical and City Theatre
The phrase “Shakespeare in the Raw” might conjure graphic scenes from Macbeth or Titus Andronicus, but Unseam’d Shakespeare Company is interested primarily in historical authenticity, not gratuitousness. For the first time, Unseam’d will stage two comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, using 16th-century production methods. Like actors of that period,…
Bluebird Kitchen
Downtown workers tired of the same old bagels and donuts for breakfast can now swing by the newly opened Bluebird Kitchen, just up from Market Square. The café offers stick-to-your-ribs starters such as organic steel-cut oatmeal with coconut milk; grits with bacon, cheddar and fried egg; or sweet potato and corned-beef hash. Stop by for…
Lynn Cullen Live 05/30/12
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; Obama’s direct involvement in the kill list; drone technology; TX school district adding chips to student ID cards; Cory Booker slams Obama on Meet the Press; Wisconsin & Scott Walker; Vanessa German: local artist, a force of good in Homewood; Obama gives Bob Dylan Medal of Freedom; chicken de-boning robot…
Darling Companion
Oh, dear. It feels churlish to hate on a feel-good movie about a lost dog and how a bunch of sort-of-lost-themselves people find each other while searching for the pooch. But Darling Companion, an ensemble dramedy directed by Lawrence Kasdan (Grand Canyon) and co-penned with his wife, just wanders about in its own rarefied air.…
Men in Black III
Men in Black III Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld Starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin In 3-D in select theaters Remember these guys, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) and Agent J (Will Smith), federal alien-control agents? They’re back, after previous mismatched buddy-cop adventures in 1997 and 2002, and in the same dilemma: stopping aliens…
Broken Fences keeps it slow and simple
BROKEN FENCES CD RELEASE with PAUL LUC, MARK DIGNAM, JUDITH AVERS. 8 p.m., Fri., June 1. Club Café 56 S. 12th St. South Side. $10. 412-431-4950 or clubcafelive.com Guy Russo writes somber songs, unabashedly in the style of James Taylor, but he says that makes him the rebel of his family — the one who…
Pittsburgh Jazz live International expands in its second year
PITTSBURGH JAZZ LIVE INTERNATIONAL. Fri., June 1-Sun., June 3. Multiple venues Downtown. Many events free; some ticketed. 412-456-6666 or pittsburghjazzlive.com Editor’s note: The print edition of the paper mentions Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band playing Saturday; that’s incorrect. That show is Friday, June 1, at the Cabaret at Theater Square. Pittsburgh has a…
Keeping Weird Paul Weird
WEIRD PAUL ROCK BAND with THE CEILING STARES, MEETING OF IMPORTANT PEOPLE. 9 p.m. Sat., June 2. Howlers 4509 Liberty Ave. Bloomfield. $5. 412-682-0320 or howlerscoyotecafe.com “It’s not the same album I would make today,” admits local lo-fi musician Weird Paul Petroskey, of his 1987 debut album In Case of Fire, Throw This In. Petroskey…
