Conflict Kitchen re-opens, says Palestinian voices central to their project
Despite media cameras, reporters buzzing about, and a long line for service, Calvin Pollak sat at a table in Schenley Plaza over a steaming bowl of Conflict Kitchen’s Maftoul — a Palestinian dish of couscous and slow-cooked chicken and chick peas. The restaurant reopened today after closing because of death threats it received on Saturday…
New shows coming to town include Murder By Death, Aesop Rock
Donora’s EP listening party takes place Dec. 6 at Club Cafe.
Dave Chappelle Plays Carnegie Hall Homestead Tomorrow
Tickets on sale at noon for surprise stop
Pittsburgh Pearl Jam tribute act on AXS TV series tonight
Ten appears live at the Whisky a Go Go.
City sues to protect gun law it has refused to enforce for five years
The City of Pittsburgh joined Philadelphia and several other municipalities and state legislators in a lawsuit against the state of Pennsylvania over a law that would give gun-rights groups like the NRA standing to sue over gun laws. The move seems a little strange since the city has doesn’t anything to enforce its own gun…
Mayor Peduto emphasizes transparency, efficiency in State of the City Address
This morning Mayor Bill Peduto delivered his State of the City Address, touting several accomplishments that have been occurred since he took office in January — grants, 311 Twitter communication, an education task force (more coverage from City Paper’s Rebecca Nutall his week), and the fact that for the first time in history, the Bureau…
Pittsburgh-based reality series, Godfather of Pittsburgh premieres tonight on A&E
Apparently Pittsburgh has a “Godfather” and he has his own reality show debuting tonight on the A&E network at 10 p.m. According to press material, the show focuses on local businessman Vincent Isoldi, who owns several local ventures including Club Erotica, a gentleman’s club in McKees Rocks. Post-Gazette TV critic Rob Owen has a first-episode…
The Voice season 4 runner-up Michelle Chamuel visits Pittsburgh tomorrow
After taking home second place in Season 4 of The Voice, Michelle Chamuel has released her first single called “Face the Fire,” a synth-pop tune featuring her soulful vocals. Chamuel studied performing arts technology at University of Michigan before joining the band My Dear Disco in 2007, later renamed Ella Riot. In 2011, the band…
Free dance performance tonight
Attack Theatre continues its Remainder / Northside series with a free works-in-progress performance tonight at the New Hazlett Theater. “Become a part of the creative conversation and experience a demonstration of the process that will inform and inspire this world premiere in June 2015,” according to an email invitation. Another free works-in-progress show is set…
MP3 Monday: Heather Kropf
Photo Courtesy of Ashley Dru Hey folks, this week’s MP3 Monday is brought to us courtesy of the Calliope Pittsburgh Folk Music Society’s Songwriters Circle. The society will be hosting a CD release event November 14 at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts to celebrate its tenth annual compilation CD of local singer-songwriters. This MP3 Monday…
Three Rivers Film Festival: Some weekend picks
The Imitation Game The Three Rivers Film Festival runs through Sat., Nov. 22. We haven’t seen these films but here are some playing over the next couple of days that look like interesting picks. For the complete schedule and more info, see www.3rff.com. To see reviews of films CP did preview, see here. SATURDAY, NOV.…
Conflict Kitchen criticizes P-G over coverage of Palestinian menu controversy
Ever since Conflict Kitchen unveiled a selection of Palestine-inspired dishes Oct. 6, the restaurant has faced criticism from Jewish organizations that have rebuked the Heinz Endowments for helping fund the restaurant. These critics have argued that the U.S. is not in conflict with Palestine. (The restaurant features a rotating menu inspired by cuisine form places…
Free admission tomorrow to Children’s Museum
The Children’s Museum celebrates an anniversary by letting everyone in free, and offering special performances. Danielle Fox has more in Program Notes.
Free admission tomorrow to Children’s Museum
Event celebrates the tenth anniversary of its 2004 expansion
Wicked Author Visits the Carnegie on Sunday
Gregory Maguire is back in town, this time with a new book for kids. More in Program Notes.
Wicked Author Visits the Carnegie on Sunday
Children’s Lit and Wicked author Gregory Maguire speaks at Carnegie Library Hall this Sunday.
Watch this completely mesmerizing bus map
When Port Authority began rolling out real-time bus tracking, they banked heavily on outside developers. Instead of designing apps themselves, they’ve made the feed that provides live location updates available to pretty much any developer who wants it. That’s how Carnegie Mellon grad student Alex Rebert wound up designing a map that shows every real-time…
Mobile Sculpture Workshop Unveiling Saturday
Pilot project taught youths sculpture and metalworking
UPMC workers turn down “significant” settlement offer in NLRB case
When Jim Staus was cornered at a staff meeting for wearing a sticker in support of forming a union at UPMC, he knew it wasn’t right. “Shortly thereafter, my life at work became a living hell,” says Staus, who supplied nursing departments with everything from band-aids to needles and gloves. “They put me on a…
Duquesne University celebrates 200th birthday of saxophone inventor
Are you passionate about the saxophone? On Sat., Nov. 8, Duquesne University will be hosting a 200th birthday celebration for Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the instrument. The music school will be hosting performances, master classes, and an Adolphe Sax exhibit on loan from the Embassy of Belgium. The closing concert will feature an appearance…
CP Cartoonist Gives Talk on Ill-Fated Public Artwork on Saturday
Eric Lidji, who draws “Public Notices,” is also an archivist and writer. He explores a corner of Pittsburgh’s 1980s public-art scene in a talk Saturday at the Heinz History Center. Details in Program Notes.
CP Cartoonist Gives Talk on Ill-Fated Public Artwork on Saturday
Huge sculpture was stolen in 1985
Auditor General, Mayor call for pension reform
At a press conference timed to follow last night’s election, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and Mayor Bill Peduto today announced the launch of an audit of the city’s pension plans for firefighters, police and other municipal employees. While the pension audit is one done regularly by the auditor general’s office, DePasquale and Peduto used the…
Current Kickstarter: Avi Diamond
Avi Diamond Every now and again, we use this space to highlight a local musician or two as they wage crowdfunding campaigns, as so many do anymore in order to make a record. Today, we take a quick gander at Avi Diamond. A local singer and songwriter, Diamond mixes jazz and pop; she released a…
Food-themed art exhibition opens Friday
Downtown’s Future Tenant celebrates harvest season with the group show Bountiful. The main dish is in Program Notes.
Food-themed art exhibition opens Friday
Free opening reception at Future Tenant
Shaq Fu: Experience the wretchedness for yourself!
In this week’s City Paper — on the streets today — I wrote a story about the city’s first Retro Gaming Expo which is happening at the Pittsburgh Irish Center on Nov. 15. You can read that story here if you haven’t already. Once you do, you’ll read about one of the event organizers, James…
Smaller music venues aren’t all readily accessible to patrons with disabilities — and there’s no easy fix
Gabriel McMorland has been going to see — and play — live music since he was a teenager — often in smaller, less traditional venues, as his tastes skew toward punk rock. But his relationship with live shows is different than many: McMorland lost most of his sight at age 19 (due to what he…
Local brewer also tempts patrons with his food
Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery 171 Bridge St. West Homestead 412-464-2739 or rockbottom.com Brandon McCarthy, head brewer at Rock Bottom Pittsburgh, credits his dad’s good taste — and some youthful boldness — for getting him where he is today. “When everyone else was stealing Miller Lights from their dad, I was stealing Victory and Dogfish…
Avi Buffalo’s Work-In-Progress
AVI BUFFALO with WAYNE BECK 7 p.m. Tue., Nov. 11. Club Café 56 S. 12th St. South Side $10-12 412-431-4950 or clubcafelive.com Though Avi Zahner-Isenberg is currently touring in support of his second album, he makes it plain that he considers his music, and really his whole life, a work in progress. At 23, he’s…
The latest iteration of Conflict Kitchen features take-out fare from Palestine
Conflict Kitchen’s latest menu is “Palestinian Take-Out.” Sample familiar Middle Eastern fare like baba ghanoush, or try: the Palestinian national dish, musakhan (toasted flatbread with chicken, onion and sumac); rumaniyya (an eggplant, lentil and pomegranate stew whose spices summon North Africa); or maftoul, a couscous dish with chicken that’s this Schenley Plaza kiosk’s top seller…
An instrument is more than just an instrument in one CMU course
“Hybrid Instrument Building” is perhaps one of the most challenging and experimental interdisciplinary courses offered in the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University. The syllabus of this course broadly defines an “instrument” as an object that amplifies your intentions. “Hybrid” is defined as all that exists between digital and physical, real and virtual,…
The Three Rivers Film Festival
HOMEMAKERS. Filmed mostly in Pittsburgh, Colin Healey’s comedy depicts a wild child (a fierce and fearless Rachel McKeon) who flirts with settling down after inheriting a ramshackle house in Bloomfield. It’s loosely plotted (a bit mumblecore-ish), but beneath the chaos Healey makes some cogent points about identity, growing up and forming community. 7:15 p.m. Fri.,…
Pittsburgh’s art groups forge ahead on accessibility
In the early 1970s, Marty Mathews was a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon, where she studied piano. Mathews is blind from birth. So whenever she attended a play, the self-described “culture vulture” arrived hoping that one of her seatmates would read her the program. Today, that’s less of a problem: Many theater companies offer programs…
Critics’ Picks: Nov. 6-13
[HIP HOP] + THU., NOV. 6 The radio’s not what it used to be, but some folks are finding creative ways to keep the spirit of the old airwaves alive: Take, for example, PR7X. The “pirate radio” Internet service (at www.pr7x.com), kicking off in grand style with a live broadcast from Howlers tonight, features hip…
Artist turns vinyl-record collection into interactive installation
WELL PLAYED: PAUL’S VINYL RECORDS continues through Sun., Nov. 9 707 Penn Gallery 707 Penn Ave. Downtown trustarts.org Letting someone rummage through your music collection is like baring your neck — exposing your Spears next to your Smiths, and revealing all sorts of questionable tastes Paul Rosenblatt made an interactive art installation out of doing…
New Releases
THE ARMADILLOS CD RELEASE with ELLIOTT SUSSMAN, THE TURPENTINERS 9 p.m. Sat., Nov. 8. Thunderbird Café 4023 Butler St. Lawrenceville $5. 412-682-0177 or thunderbirdcafe.net The Armadillos Nevertheless (Wild Kindness) The reigning winner of CP’s Best Of Pittsburgh reader’s poll in the “Alt-Folk/Alt-Country Band” category, The Armadillos last hit us with new music about two years…
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at Prime Stage
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE continues through Sun., Nov. 9. New Hazlett Theater 6 Allegheney Square East North Side $20 724-773-0700 or primestage.com Prime Stage Theatre’s production of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — the premiere of Bruce Hall’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel — is a fun little horror…
The Other End of the Spectrum: Autism isn’t just a childhood disorder but are we prepared to serve adults?
Across his 19 years, Christopher Merchant hit milestones his family was never sure he’d make. First diagnosed broadly with pervasive developmental disorder, Christopher didn’t eat or swallow properly and had trouble sitting up. “We knew there was something wrong with our second son,” says Lisa Merchant, Christopher’s mother, “because he was nothing like the first.” …
Murder for Two at CLO Cabaret
MURDER FOR TWO continues through Jan. 18. The Cabaret at Theater Square 655 Penn Ave Downtown $39.75-44.75 412-325-6766 or clocabaret.com The beginning couldn’t have been more disheartening. At the start of Pittsburgh CLO Cabaret’s local premiere of Murder for Two, two men come out and begin plowing their way through the exposition. Joe Kinosian and…
Urban Challenges: Traversing Pittsburgh can be tough for those with disabilities
For Squirrel Hill resident Paul O’Hanlon, traversing city streets in the winter months comes with an extra set of challenges. A trip over Pittsburgh’s crumbling sidewalks and pothole-ridden streets carries added danger when these same streets and sidewalks are covered with snow and ice. “Winter is long in Pittsburgh,” says O’Hanlon, who uses a wheelchair.…
The renowned Royal Ballet of Cambodia makes its Pittsburgh debut
THE ROYAL BALLET OF CAMBODIA 8 p.m. Fri. Nov., 7 Byham Theater 101 Sixth St. Downtown $20-45 412-456-6666 or trustarts.org With roots tracing to the seventh century, The Royal Ballet of Cambodia is a unique link to Southeast Asia’s temple dances and mythic tales, as handed down for generations. With their rich, ornate costuming and…
Video-game nostalgia on tap for inaugural Pittsburgh Retro Gaming Expo
Pittsburgh Retro Gaming Expo 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., Nov. 15 Pittsburgh Irish Center 6886 Forward Ave Squirrel Hill $10 pittsburghretrogaming.com James Deighan has a serious addiction to quite possibly the worst video game to ever appear on a gaming system. “Shaq Fu!” yells an excited Deighan, naming the video game that he’s compelled to collect…
Locally shot comedy Homemakers is among the opening-night films at Three Rivers Film Festival
Homemakers Directed by: Colin Healey 7:15 p.m. Fri., Nov. 7. Melwood When a free-spirited, shambolic, punky young woman named Irene inherits a run-down empty house in Pittsburgh, will it be another thing she destroys in the name of edginess, or will she settle down and adopt a new, more stable identity? This tension forms the…
Urban Innovation 21 working toward innovation and growth in all neighborhoods
“I used to ride my bicycle on these streets,” Bill Generett says, glancing out the car window. In Homewood, driving down Penn and Frankstown and Lang, he sees shuttered stores and weed-choked lots. Buildings cowering behind boarded windows and wire fences. “I remember when it was vibrant,” he recalls. “The first time I came back,…
The 33rd Three Rivers Film Festival kicks off Fri., Nov. 7
The 33rd annual Three Rivers Film Festival, presented by Pittsburgh Filmmakers, opens Fri., Nov. 7, with four new films and a party. First-nighters can choose between: Foxcatcher, Bennett Miller’s docudrama about a 1996 murder at John duPont’s wrestling camp (7 p.m. Regent Square, Edgewood; sold out); The Overnighters, Jesse Moss’ devastating documentary about a small…
An experience with temporary disability reveals that common courtesy goes a long way
Sometimes we don’t realize the day-to-day struggles of others until we find ourselves in the same predicament. I grew up with a disabled father, who battled multiple sclerosis for nearly 30 years before passing away in 2000. I saw early on how difficult the simplest tasks — like buttoning a shirt or tying a shoe…
Before I Go to Sleep
It’s the perfect pitch: Gaslight meets Memento with a splash of Gone Girl. So goes this tale of a woman (Nicole Kidman) who wakes up every morning with no memory, and begins to suspect that the man (Colin Firth) who claims to be her long-time husband might be hiding something. If only she could remember…
Savage Love
Is this even Dan? Probably not, probably an assistant, but maybe this will eventually get to him. I have a spanking fetish. I love to be spanked. I live in Oakland, Calif., so San Francisco is 10 minutes away. Seems like I’m in one of the best places in the country to have a kink,…
Big Hero 6
Short version: Some scientifically minded young adults — plus one health-care robot — create various tools in order to defeat a villain (also a scientist), in this digitally animated family action-adventure from Disney. (Don Hall and Chris Williams direct.) As expected, the animation is top-notch, and the film moves at a good clip. The action…
Five
You must shower often. If you don’t already, take up smoking to mask the pungency of your scent. Wash your clothing. Brush your teeth four times a day. Remember to floss. You are still functional. Employ the mints and elixirs made to shroud the stink of the mouth and body. Old-fashioned Listerine is twenty-two percent…
The Blue Room
In a small town, a family man (Mathieu Amalric) engages in a series of assignations with a woman (Stéphanie Cléau), also married, and their affair precipitates a number of increasingly unfortunate events. Amalric directs this lean tale of sexual obsession and unforeseen consequences in a jigsaw fashion, shifting back and forth in time, and from…
Short List: November 5 – 11
SPOTLIGHT: Fri., Nov. 7 — Stage Richard McMillan and Anne Louise Bannon met 25 years ago, during a Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival production of Hamlet. McMillan, a noted Canadian actor, played the lead, and Bannon, a Pitt student, understudied Ophelia. Eventually the two performers married. And though they lived in Toronto, McMillan frequently returned to…
Laggies
At nearly 30, Megan (Keira Knightley) is emotionally careless and still treading water in suburban Seattle. But a chance encounter with Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz), a teenager looking for an older female in her life, provides the impetus for Megan to finally grow up. Or perhaps not, since Megan really digs regressing back to teen-age…
Magical Universe
Almost by accident, New York filmmaker Jeremy Workman and his girlfriend discover Al Carbee, a semi-reclusive octogenarian living in a small town in Maine, who has filled his house (and other structures) with a lifetime of artwork. Carbee is fascinated with Barbie dolls, and much of his art incorporates the dolls into wistful and fanciful…
Stuff We Like
Wilson’s B-B-Q. This unprepossessing, family-owned storefront has been serving great wood-fired barbecue (mostly take-out, though there’s a table inside) for more than a half-century. The ribs are savory, the chicken is tender, and don’t forget the sides: The potato salad ranks among the best in town. 700 N. Taylor Ave., North Side. 412-322-7427 How to…
Nightcrawler
Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a loner who covers up his lack of people skills with a glib conversational style. After seeing some freelance cameramen capture footage for local if-it-bleeds-it-leads TV-news shows, Bloom gets into the business himself. At first, his keen eye, smooth talking and even emotional detachment make him a perfect fit to…
South Side Barbecue Company
South Side Barbecue Company 75 S. 17th St. South Side. 412-381-4566 Hours: Tue.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Prices: $7-21 Liquor: Full bar On the face of it, the replacement of the South Side’s venerable 17th Street Café with a new barbecue place isn’t that remarkable. There’s been plenty of turnover in the…
Lynn Cullen Live 11/6/14
Video Archive Ferante case continues. President promises to work with new Congress. The fate of the August Wilson Center. Priestly love and modern Catholicism. A new app that filters out political jargon. Poppies bloom for veteran’s in an honorary exhibition. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android…
MP3 Monday: Remainders MP3 premiere
A first look at the lead track from Remainders’ debut EP.
MP3 Monday: Palermo Stone
Photo Courtesy of Rachael Katsur Happy Monday! This week we’re bringing you a track from artist Palermo Stone, a hip-hop artist who prides himself on encoding a powerful message into his music. The track, from Stone’s new album The 2nd Coming, is smooth and listenable, aptly named “Milk and Honey.” Enjoy! [Download link expired. Sorry!]
