NARAL comes out in favor of Sestak
This one’s gotta hurt. Earlier today, NARAL Pro-Choice America endorsed Joe Sestak over Arlen Specter. The endorsement comes with a $5,000 campaign contribution, but the real value may be in having president Nancy Keenan say this: “Many Pennsylvanians are under the impression that Arlen Specter might be a reliable pro-choice voice, but his record says…
Ooops my bad
As you kick back with your brand new copy of City Paper today, please note a crucial listings correction: This Saturday, the 15th, The New Yinzer is throwing a sock hop. It is, as the promotional material notes, not unlike the type of dance that Porky Chedwick or Mad Mike used to throw. Back in…
District 12 Congressional race advertising jumps shark
We here at City Paper haven’t been following the race to replace John Murtha much. But it’s getting harder to ignore. Especially now that thhis “Attack of the 50 Foot Pelosi” ad has gone up on TV. I don’t want to spoil the experience of viewing this ad, but basically the message is that a…
Sestak — could this actually be happening?
So the latest Muhlenberg tracking poll suggests that Joe Sestak is now 5 points ahead of Arlen Specter in the Senate Democratic run. Even factoring in the margin of error and so on, that’s a big shift from just a week ago, when Sestak surprised everyone by being a mere 4 points behind. I’m still…
Judgment Call: Sestak drubs Specter on Obama nominee
No surprise here: Barack Obama’s nomination of Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court has become an issue in Pennsylvania’s Senate campaign. Congressman Joe Sestak, who has been challenging incumbent Arlen Specter in an increasingly spirited Democratic primary, has used the pick to pick a fight. While praising Kagan as “a respected legal mind … and…
Dance Alloy Theater’s Alloy Unlocked … Part II
The Alloy’s big spring show, its first under artistic director Greer Jones, was a nicely eclectic blend that leaves you wondering where the company might go next. The first of the three short acts at the New Hazlett Theater was “The List,” acclaimed choreographer Christopher Huggins’ new work inspired by Schindler’s List. The 20-minute piece…
Wagner hits airwaves — UPDATED with new commentary that raises doubts about my mental well being
State Auditor General Jack Wagner is up with his first (I believe) TV ad in the Pittsburgh market. I can’t find the spot online yet — if I do, I’ll post a link here — but spotted it on TV this morning. The ad features Wagner touting his record as auditor general: Much as he…
County Human Relations Commission holds first meeting
Our very own Lauren Daley was on hand for the historic — if somewhat overlooked — inaugural meeting of the county’s Human Relations Commission yesterday. Here’s her report: Though it’s just starting out, the Allegheny County Human Relations Commission has already received three complaints of alleged discrimination in the county, and has asked for a…
Sympathy for the Diva? Mary Beth Buchanan getting trounced in fundraising
I guess it’s ’cause I’m a liberal, or maybe I’ve just seen too many bad stand-up comedians. But the minute somebody seems to be on the verge of seriously flopping, I start to feel bad for them. And right now, I feel sympathy — yes, I said it — for Mary Beth Buchanan. As our…
Dems melting down over Sestak/Specter match-up
Politico is reporting that state Democratic Party officials are beginning to sound the alarm: Joe Sestak might just beat Arlen Specter in the May 18 primary after all. As polls show Sestak, a second-term House member, cutting Specter’s advantage to single digits, Chairman T.J. Rooney told POLITICO in an interview that “if we want to…
District 20 House of Representatives
Five candidates take on mayor’s brother
City Theatre’s 2010-11 Season
City just announced its complete forthcoming season, and for me the most enticing pick is Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet. It’s enticing not because I know a darn thing about the play itself, but because it’s written by Tarell Alvin McCraney, who wrote The Brothers Size, which City staged in 2008. Brothers is a…
State House District 19
Hill District incumbent faces recurring Payne
Lieutenant Governor
Three Dems seek to be second banana
Decisively Undecided
In a Democratic primary headed up by a murky governor’s race, Joe Hoeffel may be the best candidate you’ve never seen
Short List: Week of May 6 – 13
With Denzel Washington starring in a Broadway revival of August Wilson’s Fences, the late playwright is back in the national news. Hereabouts, meanwhile, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater Co. revisits the very first installment of what became Wilson’s epic, career-defining project. Jitney, Wilson’s drama about life in a gypsy-cab station in the Hill District circa 1977, was…
Habitat
A new restaurant in a new building is worth a visit.
Nightmare on Elm Street
Somehow I missed seeing the original 1984 film — and its seven sequels and spin-off television series — so I’m a Freddy Kreuger newbie. I am, however, way too familiar with by-the-book thrillers, and this remake of Nightmare is a checklist of expected “thrills” and plot twists. So while I was marginally entertained by the…
Film Kitchen
Roehrig was also intrigued by how people left stuff there, from flowers and Campbell’s Soup cans (of course) to gas-relief pills, a plastic penis and a Warholesque white wig.
Babies
French documentarian Balmes spends a year in the life of four neonates: Hattie of San Francisco, Mari of Tokyo, Bayar of Mongolia, and Ponijao of Namibia. The first two live more vertical lives, while for the other two, life is more horizontal on the wide-open landscapes of their underdeveloped countries. Balmes often films with a…
Just shut up already: a dissident Christian’s take on the National Day of Prayer
Today is the National Day of Prayer — it’s going on in Market Square Park as I type this. And both Pittsburgh’s old media and new have noted the controversy surrounding it. The crux of the issue, as its usually discussed, is whether a government-sanctioned “Day of Prayer” constitutes an unlawful establishment of religion. Frankly,…
Silk Screen Film Festival
A slate of nearly two dozen recent Asian and Asian-American films
Poet Nick Lantz gets inspired by Pliny the Elder … and Donald Rumsfeld, too.
“If poetry uses language to reveal the truth, Rumsfeld was using language to conceal the truth, and that intrigued me.”
Jerry’s Girls
You gotta feel bad for Jerry Herman. Just as he became the undisputed king of the Broadway musical’s Golden Age, along came Stephen Sondheim, who threw the whole idiom onto the trash heap. Even people who don’t know musical comedy know Jerry Herman musical comedy. All together now: “Hello, Dolly. Well hello, Dolly. It’s so…
A new locally produced video covers everyday toxic threats to infants, children and adults — and how you can avoid them.
Very small doses of the wrong stuff at the wrong time can have lasting ill effects, from birth defects to chronic diseases.
Emerging Market
South Side grocery could get overhaul
Program Changes
New light for needle-exchange program
This Just In: May 6 – 13
Highlights from the local TV news: Mon Val(ley) Kilmer
A pair of nationally known choreographers challenge Dance Alloy’s performers in the troupe’s new show.
“It is a heavy subject but the dancers are really committed to it.”
Young virtuoso violinist Hilary Hahn stays in tune with the times
“Growing up I knew a lot of musicians. I got to know them, what it was like to be on the road, to prepare, what the lifestyle was like.”
Brooklyn band Sightings combines challenging noise and pop structures
“My mother doesn’t like it, but it’s not like I say, ‘My mom’s such an idiot!’ because she doesn’t like it. She’s not.”
English singer-songwriter Laura Marling makes her Pittsburgh debut at The Warhol
“The things I was brought up on were like John Martyn and Pentangle and Fairport Convention.”
New record store Whistlin’ Willie’s specializes in the old-time 78s format
“With a good, clean copy, the sound blows you away.”
Salem’s Market and Grill
Middle-Eastern grill and market offers halal meat and reasonably priced meals
Savage Love
I am a 28-year-old, post-op transsexual woman. I met a great 31-year-old guy. We have been dating for a year, and he recently told me that he didn’t think he was sure he was in love with me. He said that he didn’t know if he could give me any sort of commitment, that he…
