Acclaimed Writer Reads at Chatham Tonight
Novelist directs the Iowa Writers Workshop
PA House Dems select leadership team
The Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus today chose their leadership team for the 2013-14 session. “By working as a strong and unified group for the last two years, House Democrats were able to defeat some of the most extreme proposals from the right wing of the Republican Party. But the struggle against an extreme and destructive…
PA House Republicans appoint leadership team
House Republicans today appointed its leadership team for the 2013-14 legislative session. Rep. Sam Smith (Punxsutawney) will remain as speaker of the House and Rep. Mike Turzai (Bradford Woods) will again serve as majority leader over the 111 members of the incoming Republican caucus. Among the other appointments: APPROPRIATIONS CHAIRMAN: Rep. William Adolph (165th District,…
Nationally known, locally based cartoonist speaks here
Cartoonist and illustrator Wayno talks about his new show at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild at the opening reception tomorrow. Details in Program Notes.
Cartoonist speaking at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild
Nationally known Wayno introduces his new gallery show
Officers opposing admission of evidence, new trial in Jordan Miles case
Jordan Miles wants officers past conduct introduced at a new trial
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Nov. 13
Story of the day: Trouble at the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Watchdog group A+ Schools issues a bruising report that suggests the city schools are losing ground. Graduation rates are down, racial disparities are up, and there’s even a slight downtick in the percentage of students eligible for Pittsburgh Promise college grants. School officials say teachers…
Lynn Cullen Live 11/13/12
Video Archive Steelers win last night; the Petraeus thing just keeps getting weirder; mens’ Achilles Heel is their penis; sex brings smart people down; terrorism is all about sex; men & women can never be just friends; infidelity common in military marriges; CIA doesn’t care if you have an affair…as long as you tell them…
Pittsburgh Public Schools to host “state of the district”
Pittsburgh Public Schools will hold for the first time a “State of the District” community meeting on Thursday. Superintendent Dr. Linda Lane will share the district’s progress and future direction, while going over finance and enrollment, achievement, effectiveness, equity and satisfaction. And there’s much to discuss; earlier today, education advocacy group A+ Schools released its…
Report: Pittsburgh Public Schools took a step backward in 2011-12
A+ Schools, an education watchdog and advocacy group, today released a comprehensive annual report that shows the district declined in almost every area from student achievement to closing the achievement gap in 2011-12. The report, the organization’s Eighth Annual Report to the Community on Public School Progress in Pittsburgh, is available here. “It was a…
Alternative Homecoming debuts in Pittsburgh
Wallflowers become wildflowers at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Nov. 12
Here’s what happens when you make a “no tax hike” pledge — you start looking for more ways to soak gamblers. The Corbett administration is in talks about expanding gambling opportunities to include keno and online games — part of a possible scheme to privatize the system. But because this is Pennsylvania, Corbett apparently is…
Lynn Cullen Live 11/12/12
Video Archive Guest: Helen Gerhardt, Iraq veteran; Veterans Day; reading of names most recently lost in Afghanistan; the after-election glow is still there; Rachel Maddow clip on Obama’s re-election; David Frum tries to talk reality to fellow Republicans; the line between making & taking; gov’t regulation of the 50s & 60s; we need more sensible…
When newspapers have no comment
Here’s the thing about online comments: Some newspapers don’t get as many as they’d like. Others, like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, sometimes get more than they bargained for. Since enabling comments site-wide this past spring, the P-G gets a lot more comments than your humble City Paper (not to mention its crosstown rival, the Tribune-Review). But…
Congressman-elect Keith Rothfus: Off to a great F*cking start (WARNING: HOAXED CONTENT)
UPDATE: Shortly after this blog post went up, the @RepRothfus account was suspended. Although the account came to me by way of other journos and others, it’s possible that this was a hoax account which I fell into. I will try to get to the bottom of it, but of course the point is ……
EPA seeking info on impacts of fracking on drinking water
Federal agency seeking data on fracking on drinking water until April, 2013.
Warhol event fetes late celebrity’s bio
Book celebrates Lance Loud of “American Family” fame
City officials testify on releasing Pittsburgh from “financially distressed” status
Testifying at Thursday’s public hearing before state officials who will determine whether the city should be released from its “financially distressed” status, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said it was time the city was on its own. He cited a streamlined workforce, a significantly reduced debt principal, operating surpluses, the fact that the city went five…
Lynn Cullen Live 11/09/12
Video Archive Election re-cap; Romney’s victory speech & fireworks display that never was; Republican / Christian reactions to Obama’s re-election; our economic devastation was a result of Republican policies; Repubs usng “girl” as a pejorative; rants on media; diversity is the only way to suceed…in anything; Darwin gets 4,000 votes in Georgia election; young people…
Head’s Up: Three Rivers Film Festival
A preview of some upcoming films at the Three Rivers Film Festival
LGBT Town Hall tonight
The Delta Foundation, the sponsor of the annual celebration Pittsburgh Pride, will hold a town hall meeting tonight for ideas, suggestions and criticisms on how to improve the event and strengthen the city’s LGBT community. The meeting will be from 7 to 9 p.m., at Magee Women’s Hospital, 300 Halket St., Oakland, in the auditorium…
Tonight’s Catl show: moooooved to Lava Lounge
Catl FYI, a last-minute change: Tonight Catl show, which I previewed in this week’s Critics’ Picks, has been driven like so many steer down the street. According to the band, it’s no longer at Smiling Moose, but at Lava Lounge instead. Also on tonight’s bill: Instead of Sleeping, Barely Blind and Blue of Colors.
Benefit for hurricane relief tonight at Mullen’s
In the past, when there’s been an event at a South Side bar that featured the phrase “Jersey Shore,” it’s been because, like, DJ Pauly D is appearing or something. Not so tonight: Tonight at Mullen’s on Carson, two New Jersey natives now living in Pittsburgh are holding a benefit event for New Jersey hurricane…
Lynn Cullen Live 11/08/12
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski; people that want things = moochers; Republican party needs to embrace the new America; being white isn’t the definition of an American; Nicholas Kristof on right-wing media; Repubs are a Mad Men party in a Modern Family America; colleges & trade jobs; most of the jobs being created are crap…
Presidential rock musical premieres locally
“Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” runs through Sunday
Notable rock musical premieres locally tonight
“Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” plays through Sunday
Skyfall
Skyfall Directed by: Sam Mendes Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem Starts: Fri., Nov. 9. After an operation goes wrong, a chastened James Bond (Daniel Craig) returns to MI6 HQ in London. Relations are icy with M (Judi Dench), and a new supervisor (Ralph Fiennes) is eager to dial back field work. But Bond’s…
Bloomfield has a new butcher shop
Once a staple of any neighborhood, the local butcher shop is making a comeback. Now Bloomfield is home to the recently opened D.J.’s Butcher Block Specialty Sausage and Meats. D.J. Smulick is the proprietor of the Liberty Avenue shop. The West Deer native trained at the Culinary Institute of America, and has worked as a…
Flight
The air journey depicted in Flight has all the ingredients to make it go wrong — bad weather, a mid-air mechanical failure and an impaired pilot —yet hard-won skills triumph, as a gutsy pilot successfully lands the plane. And while Robert Zemeckis’ drama has many of the ingredients to make it go right — a…
Lynn Cullen Live 11/07/12
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; OBAMA WINS! & other election day re-cap; Karl Rove’s meltdown; right-wing radio tearing Romney apart today; Repubs who think Romney wasn’t conservative enough; Maine for marriage equality; Nate Silver’s prediction; you cannot fix what you cannot face; popular & electoral votes; CNN cuts to scene of Kenya when Obama won;…
THREE RIVERS FILM FESTIVAL
The following films were available for preview. For a complete schedule and more information about the festival, see www.3rff.com. GREGORY CREWDSON: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS. This documentary on art photographer Gregory Crewdson is director Ben Shapiro’s first full-length film, and it reads as such. Those who know Crewdson’s work, and those who are interested in the photographic…
The curious case of Ryan Graveface
BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW with CASKET GIRLS, THE STARGAZER LILIES. 9 p.m. Sat., Nov. 10. Mr. Small’s Theater 400 Lincoln Ave. Millvale. $14. All ages. 412-821-4447 or mrsmalls.com Ryan Graveface can’t stop. “As I’m talking to you right now, even though I’m not innately nervous about this interview, I’m pacing,” says the Black Moth Super…
Unmasking Tobacco
Cobra Juicy represents Black Moth Super Rainbow’s umpteenth attempt at a fifth album. Having scrapped initial attempts out of fear that he was losing control of the band’s sound, the founder of the Pittsburgh-based band, Tom Fec, a.k.a. Tobacco, considered shelving the Black Moth Super Rainbow endeavor altogether in favor of work that would grant…
The kids will have their say
CODE ORANGE KIDS LP RELEASE at SINCERITY FEST with TRIAL, HOLLOW EARTH, MANY MORE. Noon, Sat., Nov. 10. Springdale VFD 845 Lincoln Ave. Springdale. Free. All ages. facebook.com/sincerityfest Code Orange Kids’ busy 2012 started right out of the gate on New Year’s Day. The band held a release show for its debut 7-inch, Cycles, at…
Frank Ferraro’s Wine and Dust looks at musicians and the people who love them
WINE AND DUST at THREE RIVERS FILM FESTIVAL. 7:30 p.m. Sun., Nov. 11. Melwood Screening Room 477 Melwood Ave Oakland. 412-681-5449 or 3rff.com “I can’t seem to shake musicians,” confesses Paula Angeli with a laugh, at the beginning of Frank Ferraro’s documentary, Wine and Dust: A Rock and Roll Love Story. “Honestly,” she continues, “it’s…
CD Reviews
Long Time Divided Long Time Divided (Self-released) Debut release from the local five-piece. Hard rock with a metal edge; it’s clear that these guys worship at the altar of Metallica, but there are also hints of grunge and alt-rock in there (and even a piano-driven ballad). There are nods to the literary, too (a spoken-word…
Critics’ Picks: November 7 – 13
[BLUES] + THU., NOV. 8 If you went searching for blues music, it’s likely that Toronto wouldn’t be your first stop. But that doesn’t mean that city’s Catl isn’t good at rendering old-style, Delta blues music. The trio, headed up by Jamie Fleming (he, properly speaking, is Catl), released its third full-length, Soon This Will…
ICA Problem: Has the time come to neuter the city’s fiscal watchdog?
When it comes to the city’s finances, Henry Sciortino is all about transparency. In his role as executive director of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority — one of two state-appointed financial overseers for the City of Pittsburgh — he knows the city’s finances inside and out. For the past eight years, he’s worked behind the scenes…
Tami Dixon’s South Side Stories honors a neighborhood’s survivors
SOUTH SIDE STORIES Thu., Nov. 10-Dec. 16. City Theatre 1300 Bingham St. South Side. $35-55. 412-431-2489 or www.citytheatrecompany.org When she moved to the South Side Slopes, in 2005, Tami Dixon was awed by the view. From her window, she saw an urban panorama stretching from the Squirrel Hill Tunnels west to past the Point. But…
Savage Love
DEAR READERS: I’m writing this week’s column in a drug-induced coma. Well, not quite a coma, but close. I was fighting a cold, and it morphed into an insanely painful sinus infection. So my advice is probably going to be suckier than usual. This probably falls into the category of a so-what’s-the-problem problem: I’m a…
A local reporter’s new book examines the world of liver transplants.
Organ transplanation has become so commonplace that references to it often border on the blasé. But cutting an organ out of one human body and sewing it into another remains fraught business — for recipients, living donors, their families and doctors, too. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review investigative reporter Luis Fabregas weighs the full cost in his new…
Ad Hominem
As this issue goes to press, we have no way of knowing how the 2012 elections went. But there is at least one clear group of winners — all the TV stations who have reaped billions from airing political ads — and one group of losers: the poor saps who end up watching them. And…
Future Ten 9: 10 Minutes ‘Til Doomsday
FUTURE TEN 9: 10 MINUTES ‘TIL DOOMSDAY continues through Sat., Nov. 10. Future Tenant 819 Penn Ave. Downtown. $10. futuretenant.org Festivals of very short plays are generally a mixed bag, gimmicky, with a lot of laughs and an occasional gem. So it is with the current edition of Future Tenant’s Future Ten 9: 10 Minutes…
Short List: November 7 – 13
SPOTLIGHT Wed., Nov. 14 — Words Writer Neil Gaiman has an enviable ability to blend fantasy and reality in his work, while making real a number of his own dreams. From starting out as a journalist struggling to interest British newspaper editors in stories about comics, Gaiman went on to create his own best-selling comic…
Prime Stage’s Fahrenheit 451
FAHRENHEIT 451 continues through Sun., Nov. 11. New Hazlett Theater 6 Allegheny Square East North Side. $10-35. 888-718-4253 or primestage.com In Ray Bradbury’s 1951 novel Fahrenheit 451, the government in a dystopic future has outlawed books — the better to curtail independent thinking — and city firemen are charged with burning libraries, rather than putting…
Dasonii Korean Bistro
Dasonii Korean Bistro 6520 Steubenville Pike Robinson. 412-494-3311 Hours: Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-9 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Prices: Appetizers $5-13; entrees $10-25 Liquor: Wine and beer Once upon a time, when Italian and Chinese cuisines were still considered exotically foreign, restaurants deemed it necessary to describe them by vague analogy. Thus, pizza…
Pittsburgh Playwrights’ Theatre Festival in Black & White
THEATRE FESTIVAL IN BLACK & WHITE continues through Nov. 17. Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre 937 Liberty Ave. Downtown. $15-25. 412-377-7803 or pghplaywrights.com A decade ago, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company had a wild idea: Why not solicit short scripts from black and white dramatists, then have the plays directed by members of the “other” race? Pittsburgh gushes…
Talking Turkey
When Beverly Pounds married her husband Tim, she also became wedded to the family’s 77-year-old Westmoreland County turkey business — Pounds Turkey Farm. From the start it seemed like the right fit for her. “Thanksgiving always was my favorite holiday growing up,” she says. The Pounds farm is one of the largest small farms in…
Nickel and Dimed author Barbara Ehrenreich talks with CP
BARBARA EHRENREICH 6 p.m. Wed., Nov. 14. GRW Theater University Center 414 Wood St. Downtown. Free. 412-392-3938 Barbara Ehrenreich spoke with City Paper on Nov. 2, and couldn’t yet discuss the presidential campaign’s outcome. But the author and activist emphasized something a single Election Day won’t change: how little attention politicians and the media pay…
At Mount Lebanon’s Il Pizzaiolo, a bit of European wine culture
Off busy Route 19, and back behind the main dining room of Mount Lebanon pizza sensation Il Pizzaiolo, you’ll find an often-overlooked oasis in the South Hills: Enoteca del Pizzaiolo. In Italy, an “enoteca” is a repository for regional wine culture. (Imagine a store where Napa Valley winemakers offer samples, and you start to get…
Election Eve Thoughts/sleep-deprived rantings
It’s after 2 a.m. I don’t have much energy to do anything more than state the obvious. Which is that this election was not just an epic win, but an epochal win as well. The president gave another soaring acceptance speech, and it began, again, with the claim that tonight’s victory was about us, not…
