Anti-immigrant group Colcom Foundation’s sponsorship of Holiday Market draws criticism
The locally based Colcom Foundation sponsors causes throughout Pittsburgh and it’s not uncommon to see its name posted all over the region, including the stage at Peoples Gas Holiday Market in Market Square. But the foundation’s central cause is more controversial than that: Colcom Foundation gives millions to anti-immigrant groups; the same groups that spread…
Two unreleased ‘Spotify Singles’ from Mac Miller just dropped
Even after his passing, Mac Miller is still blessing our ears with new music. Today, Spotify released two previously unheard ‘Spotify Singles’ recorded by the late Pittsburgh rapper before his Sept. 7 death. An alternative version of “Dunno” from his August release, Swimming, features Miller’s raspy vocals accompanied by a piano. “Nothing from Nothing” is a…
A conversation with Pittsburgh City Paper cover artist Xiola Jensen
Every teen magazine or website should be beating down her doors to have her illustrate their stories on heartbreak.
Q and A with Image Consultant Sonia McKoy
Name Sonia McKoy, Image Consultant, Vice President of Style Management Experience, Pittsburgh What are you wearing today? I am wearing a cashmere top, green jacket, fabulous jeans that I totally love, and my favorite item, my Wellingtons [boots]. They are my favorite because green is one of my colors to wear. I like the Wellington…
7 Days of Concerts
Thursday The Midnight Hour ft. Ali Shaheed Muhammed & Adrian Younge 7 p.m. Club Café, South Side. clubcafelive.com Friday Palisades 6 p.m. The Smiling Moose, South Side. smiling-moose.com Saturday Pack / Dinosoul / Bikini islands 7 p.m. Black Forge Coffee House, McKees Rocks (New location). blackforgecoffee.com Sunday CAVE 8:00 p.m. Cattivo, Lawrenceville. cattivopgh.com Monday With…
Sad Girls Aquatics Club releases first EP, Vodkawine
Is vodkawine a mix of vodka and wine? Yes, yes, it is. Did Sad Girls Aquatics Club write and record their first EP, fittingly titled, Vodkawine under the influence of that mixture? They didn’t not do it. What “seemed like a good idea at the time,” turned into a winter-long escapade of fortifying their wine…
Meet the 2018 Battle of the Bands finalists
It’s been a big year for Pittsburgh alt-rock/indie band Chase and the Barons since winning Battle of the Bands in 2017. The group performed at local music festivals, was featured on 105.9 The X, opened for Russian/Californian rock band Red Elvises, released an EP, and recorded a WQED Session. And now it’s time for another…
Glitter Box casts a spell with the feminist witch musical La Strega
Running The Glitter Box Theater has its perks. If not for the Oakland venue, co-owner and playwright Teresa Martuccio might not have a regular place to stage her incredible, DIY musical productions. Where else could she put on her latest original creation, the dark, magical, feminist romp La Strega? Set in the Dolomites mountain range of…
The Princess Switch is fun nonsense
It was inevitable that Netflix would start producing corny holiday movies in the vein of the Hallmark channel. This year’s addition, The Princess Switch, stars Vanessa Hudgens as two different people, a baker and a princess, who switch places. Stacy (Hudgens) runs a bakery in Chicago with her best friend Kevin (Nick Sagar). She gets…
Essential bar tools
As a bartender, I frequently get asked about the tools I use. Most often, people want to know what specific items they need at home in order to make decent drinks for themselves and friends. In an earlier column, I discussed three essential bar tools, but there’s a few more we can add to the…
Peepshow: Jessie Sage chats with a BDSM enthusiast
Self-care suggestions often include activities like jogging, journaling, yoga, or therapy. But, Mr. X, an NYC-based writer, has discovered that for him, self-care means being beaten into submission by a professional dominatrix. We talked about his experiences over morning coffee. Mr. X: I first got into BDSM in college after reading The Story of O,…
Free Will Astrology
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Blackjack is a card game popular in gambling casinos. In the eternal struggle to improve the odds of winning big money, some blackjack players work in teams. One teammate secretly counts the cards as they’re dealt and assesses what cards are likely to come up next. Another teammate gets subtle signals…
Alternate Histories releases a monster of a book with Pittsburgh in Olden Times
In typical AH style, the collection features zombies, aliens, and giant monsters causing havoc throughout Pittsburgh’s history.
Review of Choolaah in East Liberty: healthy, convenient, but a little too hip
When Choolaah Indian BBQ opened a location in East Liberty, diners fell head over heels for the fast-casual, traditional Indian food with a healthy twist. Choolaah puts a modern spin on tried and true Indian traditions, creating an approachable, casual dining experience. It’s a brilliant way to attract both health-obsessed and apprehensive eaters. But I’m…
Lynn Cullen Live – 11/27/18
Video Archive First thing this morning Lynn and Susan are discussing the alarming red Christmas trees on display in the White House. Neither find the display appealing, and can’t understand the reasoning behind the design choice. They are also talking about a couple of op-ed pieces in the New York Times; “Maybe They’re Just Bad…
The Nutcracker Returns to Benedum Center
The Nutcracker is a holiday tradition all over the United States, but in some countries, it’s just another ballet. That was the case for fourth year Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre company member Emily Simpson, who was born in England and grew up in China and Thailand. “I didn’t grow up with The Nutcracker at all,”…
Closing of Youngstown-area GM plant highlights economic difficulties of small cities near Pittsburgh
Two weeks after two economic-booming regions, New York City and Washington, D.C., were rewarded 25,000 potential jobs each with Amazon HQ2, one of the weakest economic regions, Youngstown, Ohio, is losing 4,500 jobs due to the announced closure of its General Motors plant in Lordstown. The Lordstown car plant closure is one of five closures…
Wildlife is an intimate drama about marriage, pride, and wildfires
Marriage is hard, and so is taming wildfires. Sometimes they bear a striking resemblance, as in Wildlife, an intimate drama directed by Paul Dano, who wrote it with real life partner Zoe Kazan. It’s based on a novel of the same name by Richard Ford. Set against the backdrop of a sprawling Montana town in…
Pittsburgh nonprofits who deserve your support this #GivingTuesday
On Tuesday Nov. 27, many local nonprofits and charities are participating in a national program to help boost donations to worthwhile causes.
Lynn Cullen Live – 11/26/18
Video Archive The history of Thanksgiving, and the consumerism that follows the holiday is what Lynn is discussing to the start of the show today. She is also talking about the activities our country is engaging in currently. Yesterday we fired tear gas at migrants, including barefoot children at the border. The US is also…
Pittsburgh small retailers feed the local economy and offer intangibles the likes of Amazon cannot give
Amazon doesn’t care about you. Despite its convenience and ubiquity, the behemoth online retailer isn’t necessarily good for its customers, employees, or the cities in which it does business. One example: as Pittsburgh City Paper reported in June, Amazon isn’t collecting the Allegheny County’s sales tax, meaning that we miss out on millions of…
Attack Theatre reworks In Defense of Gravity
While it is common for a dance company to bring back a work they have previously performed, it’s a bit out of the ordinary to do it the very next season. That is the case however for Attack Theatre and of In Defense of Gravity, an evening-length work the company premiered in 2017 and is…
Peepshow: Damned if you do, damned if you don’t (shave pubic hair)
In the early 2000s, at nine months pregnant, I went to have my eyebrows threaded. I told the esthetician that my baby was due in a week, and she asked me if I wanted to add a Brazilian wax. Tired, uncomfortable, and not in the mood, I shrugged it off, saying I would come back…
Refugee writers continue to find sanctuary at City of Asylum
Tuhin Das was put on a hit list in 2015. He became the target of a militant fundamentalist group that murders writers, activists, bloggers, and publishers. Fearing for his life, Das escaped his home country of Bangladesh. A blogger and poet, Das found sanctuary at Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum, an organization on the North Side…
Morcilla checks all the boxes
In 2015, Morcilla opened its doors in Lawrenceville and captured the city’s attention with a family-style menu of traditional pintxos (small plates) and Spanish-inspired charcuterie. But just under two years in, Morcilla was forced to close after an overhead pipe burst and damaged much of the interior. Head chef and co-owner Justin Severino (Cure)…
Local author Jane Bernstein writes new children’s book about dogs and immigration
While Carnegie Mellon University English professor Jane Bernstein lived in New York in 1978, she met a family who had just emigrated to the U.S. from the Soviet Union. The Backers, who settled in the Washington Heights neighborhood, were unusual in that they came to this country with their dog Gina, a mini wire-haired terrier.…
Woodland Hills senior Eli Alfieri uses music as a form of coping
Woodland Hills high school senior Eli Alfieri credits the school’s music program for aiding his musical explorations. But an even bigger influence on Alfieri’s music are the violent incidents that have riddled the school and the surrounding community over the past two years, including the June 19 shooting of Woodland Hills student Antwon Rose by…
Who decided what “comfort food” in Pittsburgh means?
The hardest part was always waiting for the samosas to cool. Sitting in my friend Maitreyi’s kitchen, I’d watch her mother, Dr. Sita Mazumdar, place the bubbling samosas on a plate of paper towels. I can’t imagine how much time I spent in the Mazumdars’ Point Breeze kitchen, waiting for those fiery hot mini comets…
Gab Bonesso seriously loves parades
I love a parade. Like, seriously, I looooooove a parade. My earliest Thanksgiving memories always included my mother, sister, and I sitting around our television watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was the only part of the day that my mom would actually sit down and enjoy herself. She’d even let us sneak early…
Netflix documentary Shirkers uncovers the lost filmmaking dreams of Singaporean teenagers
Film history is full of women who never got to tell their stories, either because the door was never opened for them or because it was opened then shut in their face. The new documentary Shirkers, now on Netflix, is the origin story of director Sandi Tan’s teenage filmmaking scheme and what happened when a…
Free Will Astrology
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In March 2005, far more people than usual won big money in a regional Powerball lottery in the U.S. The average for each draw is four winners, but on this special occasion, 110 players were awarded at least $100,000 and as much as $500,000. The reason for the anomaly seemed to…
7 Days of Concerts
Thursday Happy Thanksgiving! Listen to CP’s Thanksgiving Day Playlist on Spotify. Friday Radio Tokyo 9 p.m. Crafthouse Stage & Grill, Whitehall. crafthousepgh.com Saturday Jason Mraz 8 p.m. Heinz Hall, Downtown. heinzhall.org Sunday Travis Scott 7:30 p.m. PPG Paints Arena, Downtown. livenation.com Monday Jonny Goood 6 p.m. Stage AE, North Side. promowestlive.com Tuesday Big Bliss 8…
Thanksgiving Eve: Biggest bar night of the year
Move over New Year’s Eve: Thanksgiving Eve, or Blackout Wednesday, has established itself as the biggest bar night of the year. While NYE is the biggest party night — concerts, at-home shindigs, etc. — Thanksgiving Eve brings people out to bars in droves. That’s due to a couple of factors: no huge cover fees, a…
