Separation Anxiety
I approach the news of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s separation from his wife Erin with trepidation for a couple reasons. My own parents divorced when my brother and I were only a few years older than the Ravenstahls’ son. I hope it doesn’t come to that for the mayor’s family. My parents’ parting was as amicable…
Glengarry Glen Ross at barebones productions
On one level, the six principal characters of David Mamet’s modern classic are ciphers. They seldom discuss anything but their jobs selling fraudulent real estate. The only one who refers to a wife — to any sort of domestic life — is Lingk, the sucker for one of the salesmen’s confidence games. Indeed, the only…
Scratch a fundamentalist, find a Pittsburgh native
There’s been a lot of talk about how Bishop Thomas Tobin, who heads the Catholic Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, has urged Congressman Patrick Kennedy to not take Communion because Kennedy supports abortion rights. And wouldn’t you just know it, Tobin is a Pittsburgh native. I haven’t heard anything about the local connection since the…
Man With A Movie Camera at the Three Rivers Film Festival
The fest closed out in high style Saturday night with a Regent Square Theater screening of this silent classic, accompanied by an original score performed live by Boston’s Alloy Orchestra. Cinephiles couldn’t have asked for more: a sold-out showing, with a pristine 35 mm print of a film that hasn’t been screened publicly around here…
Squonk Opera pulls back the curtain on its next show
Audiences almost always have questions when Squonk Opera gives a performance. But only rarely do you get to ask the questions directly, when the five-person troupe is still on stage. That’s what happened at the Kelly-Strayhorn theater this weekend, as Pittsburgh’s veteran muscial phantasmagorians gave a free preview performance of Mayhem and Majesty. The work…
Why students shrug at tuition hikes, but scream about taxes
In a blog post earlier today, I asked what seemed like a fairly simple question: Why are students so worked up about Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s proposed “Get The Hell of My Lawn” tax … when they merely grumble at tuition hikes that cost much more every year? The answer to that question, it seems, is…
Pittsburgh in Arts America
A couple weeks back there arrived in the mail with a thump Arts America, a 540-page tome offering a guide to the arts in 20 American cities. Among them is Pittsburgh. “Steeltown, U.S.A” (as the book calls us) didn’t make the editors’ cut of “major” destinations (New York, Chicago, L.A., San Francisco Bay Area and…
More online activism from students
As first noted here last week, when students heard about Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s tuition tax, they took to the Tweets rather than the streets. A few more Web sites have gone up since then, and these are more focused on political action than on bitching on someone’s Facebook wall. CMU students have assembled a “Stop…
Condition Critical: Long road ahead in effort to save Braddock Hospital
Maybe it was the rain, but it was hard to be optimistic about today’s rally to save Braddock Hospital. I wasn’t alone feeling that way, either. As I walked over to it, I saw a number of residents sitting on porches, just a block or two from the facility. “Not going to the hospital rally?”…
Tomorrow’s Minus the Bear show sold out
If you planned to just roll up to the door tomorrow and catch Minus the Bear at Mr. Small’s Theatre, be forewarned: According to the venue’s Web site, the show is sold out. Also performing are As Tall As Lions and Twin Tigers; the show is presented by WPTS 92.1 FM. Apart from a new…
Short List: Week of November 19 – 26
Thu., Nov. 19 — Poetry “‘What we’d like to do,’ he said / ‘is include some local poets / in the entertainment.'” So begins a characteristically wry verse by Ed Ochester. At the sixth annual ACLU Bill of Rights Poetry Reading, however, the poets are the whole show. The roster at tonight’s civil-libertarian benefit reading,…
Volcanoes of the Deep
This languid IMAX feature from Stephen Low is not about lava-spewing eruptions; instead, it casts its magnifying lens on the bacteria, crabs and other sea creatures that move in after all the excitement. Under the premise of two aging scientists searching for the oldest living creature, Ed Harris narrates a journey into the depths of…
Planet 51
Jorge Blanco’s computer-animated family comedy has a cute idea. On a distant planet that’s vaguely Earthlike in both looks and inhabitants, the off-course American astronaut who lands there is perceived as a fearsome alien threat. The funhouse-mirror premise plays out as expected: The nerdy kids are thrilled; the military grab their guns; and before the…
The Blind Side
A poor, struggling black teen-ager in Memphis is taken in by an affluent white family, who patiently teach him enough football and survival skills that he is ultimately drafted by an NFL team. It admittedly sounds like one of those hokey, inspired-by-a-true-story heart-swellers that Hollywood regularly churns out, except it’s not quite. John Lee Hancock’s…
An Education
Sixteen-year-old Jenny (Carey Mulligan)is bright and quick-witted — and thrills to meet the older, charming David (Peter Sarsgaard). He takes her to concerts, to Oxford, and even Paris. For a while, An Education is a wonderful movie, the story of a girl who’s done all of her reading and who’s ready now to start putting…
Precious
Clareece Precious Jones is friendless, obese and illiterate. Tossed out of junior high for being pregnant with her second child, she finds no refuge at her home. Lee Daniels’ drama follows Precious for a year or so, as she gradually gains self-respect, purpose and forward momentum. Feel-good inspirational film? Not quite. It accentuates the positive,…
2012
If you like your cheesy entertainment on the apocalyptic, no-holds-barred scale, Roland Emmerich’s film is for you! Tectonic plates out of order mean Billions dead, and all of planet Earth — not just a few urban centers — pulverized beyond recognition. Emmerich shoehorns in some silly human drama to pace out the jaw-dropping, effects-heavy destruction,…
Simmie’s Restaurant & Lounge
A well-prepared selection of fresh fish tops this menu of Southern-style comfort food
Author Stephen Elliot visits with his memoir of “moods, masochism and murder.”
The book is a diary for the ADD generation
This Just In: November 19 – 26
Highlights from the local TV news: A Grave Situation
Letters to the editor: November 18 – 25
Feedback from our readers: Protesting the coverage of his protest of the protesters
Point Park’s annual Pittsburgh Connections program delivers a strong mix of dance works.
Weinstein-Storey’s modern dance work about disgruntled South African mine workers, set to composer Hugh Masekela’s fiery jazz, burst with aggression and attitude.
Actor David Cale brings his new solo show to the Warhol.
“He was so beautiful-looking, he was seducing sparrows.”
A unique theatrical project blends the voices of women from the Hill District.
“We didn’t know we knew each other.”
Titanic
For all the rockin’ and rollin’, Titanic has a few standouts.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Goldstein creates a laser-sharp, slick and professional How to Succeed that serves as a highly polished setting for this student company.
Glengarry Glen Ross
Getting into the skins of these guys hurts like a punch in the throat.
Eastern Watershed Quartet release The Klez Dispensers
Rather than just the classic Jewish-music genre, Eastern Watershed revels in the connections to Eastern European cultures.
Satin Gum delivers its fuzzed-out A-game with new full-length
The first song, “Dance Me Home,” is an unequivocal statement of intent: a wistful, blissful power-pop chorus strapped to a woozy guitar figure.
The Art of Compliance
Groups forced to sign statements to get funding
Laying a Bad Foundation?
Pens may have violated CBA on hotel project
Cut Down
ICA rejects budget, student tax while urging further spending reductions
Safe Choice
City facing its own choice on abortion-clinic protection
Lost Key
Development at crucial point as Hill House’s Frazier departs
Lo-fi indie darling Jay Reatard: media manipulator, or simply dense?
The new record preserves both the awkward angst with which Reatard’s made a name for himself and the incredibly simple and sensible pop structure he’s long hung it upon.
Black Tusk brings its Savannah swamp-metal to 31st Street Pub this Sunday
“When you’re playing in such a hot place, it’s so humid all the time, it’s really hard to not make heavy music.”
Lohio’s new lineup releases a five-song EP that’s full of surprises
Lohio’s new lineup releases a five-song EP that’s full of surprises
Dance Alloy dancers again showcase their choreographic chops.
“A dance about Post-it notes” is how Michael Walsh describes his contribution.
Acoustic folk-punks The Frantic Heart of It release debut at BRICKS benefit
“I tried to write songs from the point of view of a man with a career, a wife and two kids, trying to reconcile that with ideals I’d had my whole life.”
Market District
There’s plenty to see, buy and eat at the new super-sized Giant Eagle
What’s the Matter With Jason Altmire?
… Nothing a massive transplant won’t fix
Savage Love
I am a happily married, happily nonmonogamous male. We are not wild swinger types. For us it’s more about the fact that monogamy does not work than about nailing everything that walks by. Anyway, I have encountered an odd situation a few times now, where I’ll be flirting with a potential fling and she knows…
Pittsburgh little museum devoted to animation and comics art expands — and moves Downtown.
“We are all Mickey Mouse, we are all SpongeBob.”
The Mattress Factory’s latest Gestures show is by turns sobering and touching.
The tenuousness of existence seemed to color my perception of the remainder of this very strong exhibition.
