Happy Halloween
For those who are weary of, or overwhelmed by, increasingly elaborate Halloween decorations, enjoy this spare, but haunting, tableau.
Thoughts Upon Seeing Bruce Springsteen for the First Time
A first-person account from Saturday’s Springsteen show.
Kane up in polls and fundraising
Democrat AG candidate up in polls, fundraising
Say what? GOP mailer distorts City Paper story
It’s not often that a City Paper article gets used in an attack ad against a Democrat, but that’s what the state Republican Party did on behalf of District 47 state Senator Elder Vogel in two attack ads last week. And Vogel’s mailers, by taking Kim Villella’s remarks out of context, exaggerate her opposition to…
ACLU hosts saltier “banned-books” reading
Naughty lit to be read at Brillobox tonight
Lynn Cullen Live 10/30/12
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; Hurricane Sandy; NYC power outages, flooding; weeks before the MTA will be operational?; winds in Pgh; Chris Christie praising Obama for his disaster response; Romney doesn’t want to fund FEMA; history of FEMA & Republicans; Twitter is the go-to place for news; how can union workers be staunch Repubs?; taxes…
Concerts tonight: What’s on, what’s not
What’s on and what’s cancelled tonight.
Pittsburgh reschedules Halloween but otherwise continues normal operations as Sandy blows in
A high wind warning is in effect for Pittsburgh. As of Monday afternoon, heavy rain pelted those who ventured out and winds upended umbrellas. While Pittsburgh city operations are continuing as normal — including, for now, scheduled trash pickups — emergency personnel are preparing to respond to days of high winds, flash flooding and power…
Shadow Lounge to shut down at current site, looks to re-open elsewhere
Shadow Lounge plans to close in spring 2013, with hopes of re-opening elsewhere by 2015.
Lynn Cullen Live 10/29/12
Video Archive Phone guest: Nelson Lauver, “Most Unlikely to Succeed;” Sandy & the Presidential election; campaign commercials; Romney & Ohio; President-predicting bakery in Cincinnati; Dunkin’ Donuts election mugs; Romney doesn’t believe in gov’t aid in natural disasters; dating services & political parties; Nelson Lauver, raised in Juniata Co.; bad experiences at school; no one to…
Who Let That Dog Out?
Taxidermied creature in window of Penn Avenue shop, Bloomfield
Small-town firm enters the political big leagues
The Armstrong Group is based in small-town Pennsylvania. But it may offer a template for how big-league politics will be played in the near future. As I wrote here last week, the Butler-based firm’s cable operation — which serves Pittsburgh’s hinterlands and markets in several other states — recently began offering the controversial “documentary” 2016:…
Stream This Ish: October 24 issue
Stream some tunes from the bands we wrote about in this week’s City Paper!
Reporters tweet details of today’s recorded debate between Casey and Smith
[View the story “Sen. Bob Casey Jr. Debates R-challenger Tom Smith” on Storify] Sen. Bob Casey Jr. Debates R-challenger Tom Smith Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr., who is seeking his second term in the U.S. Senate, debates R-challenger Tom Smith today at the Philadelphia studios of WPVI-TV. The debate was not aired live, but reporters…
Lynn Cullen Live 10/26/12
Video Archive Phone guest: Peter Dreier, author of 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century; a social justice hall of fame; battles that have to be re-fought throughout history – ex. contraception, minimum wage, etc…; new wave of activism if Obama is re-elected; Obama’s thoughts on reading Ayn Rand; Hurricane Sandy / Frankenstorm; shark falls…
Arrest made in South Side cyclist attack
City homicide detectives have arrested a man accused of slashing a cyclist’s throat in the South Side last month. Anthony Scholl, 21, of West Mifflin, is accused of following cyclist Colin Albright as he was carrying his bike up the city steps in the South Side and stabbing him in the arms, neck and head…
Win tickets: Rhyme Calisthenics feat. Oddisee, MH the Verb
Win tickets to see Oddisee, MH the Verb and Rhyme Calisthenics at Shadow Lounge Fri., Oct. 26!
Games as art in new gallery show
Artists address social issues through play
Games as art in new gallery show
Video and board games address social issues
Armstrong … GOP strongarm?
You may recall that last week, we brought you the news that Armstrong Cable was offering the film 2016: Obama’s America to subscribers for free. While the story noted that the family running parent company Armstrong Group, the Sedwicks, were big givers to GOP causes, I could find no record of them supporting Mitt Romney…
AG candidate picks up Toomey endorsement
David Freed, Republican nominee for state Attorney General, has picked up the endorsement of Pennsylvania’s Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey. Freed’s campaign touted the endorsement on its website . In a press release, Toomey says that Freed has an “outstanding record of success” prosecuting criminals. “Dave has the trust of his colleagues, a record of…
MOVEPGH workshops scheduled
Planners with MOVEPGH, the city’s comprehensive, multi-modal transportation plan, will present the public’s submission for projects at several workshops this month. MOVEPGH is the city’s effort at developing a long-term transportation network for 2035. Organizers will present the public’s ideas at the following workshops: — 1-3 p.m., Wed., Nov. 7, Kaufmann Center, 1825 Centre Ave.,…
Lynn Cullen Live 10/25/12
Video Archive Audio Only Archive
Beedie and Mac Miller issue new single as The Ill Spoken
Beedie and Mac Miller reunite as The Ill Spoken; listen to their new single.
Arts Venues hosting Halloween Parties
Costumed events this weekend at galleries, theaters
Halloween Parties and the Arts
Local venues host Halloween fun
Election violation complaint forms now online
Two state sites have online forms for alleged election violation complaints
AG Candidates: I see your ad and raise you one!
Democrat and Republican attorney general candidates each release ads; fight over third-party ad
Fun Size
After decades of Halloween-in-the-movies being synonymous with the deeply troubled Michael Myers and his long knife comes Fun Size, Josh Schwartz’ PG-13 comedy celebrating the more traditional pleasures of cat costumes, candy and copping a feel. Wren (Victoria Justice) would rather go to the cute guy’s party with her bestie (Jane Levy), but her mom…
Short List: October 24 – 30
Spotlight: Sat., Oct. 27 — Art Deborah Kass might wear her influences on the sleeve of her artist’s smock, but she’s not afraid to challenge them. Kass followed in Andy Warhol’s footsteps by studying painting at Carnegie Mellon, but she then sought to redress pop art in which she failed to see identities similar to…
The Round Up
In the summer of 1942, the French government cooperated with the Nazis by rounding up more than 10,000 Parisian Jews. Roselyne Bosch’s drama features an ensemble cast that includes a neighborhood of Jewish families, sympathetic Parisians (including Jean Reno as a doctor), Vichy officials and Hitler. While her attempt to show the full picture is…
Luke Wholey’s Wild Alaskan Grille
Luke Wholey’s Wild Alaskan Grille 2106 Penn Ave. Strip District. 412-904-4509 Hours: Mon.-Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Prices: Appetizers $4-10; entrees $14-28 Liquor: Full bar The story of Luke Wholey’s Wild Alaskan Grille begins with a sidewalk grill set up in front of … no, wait. It begins with his family’s iconic Strip District fish market…
Uke and Tuba is a novelty act for the age of YouTube
UKE AND TUBA. 11 p.m. Fri., Nov. 9. Friday Night Improvs Basement, Cathedral of Learning, Oakland. ukeandtuba.com Uke and Tuba is a meme waiting to happen: The band plays songs both trendy and timeless on one tiny stringed instrument and a big piece of brass. Ukulele-ist Eric Frankenberg says it’s funnier visually, so he’s…
Starting to Roll
A food-truck rally in East Liberty on Oct. 14 was more than just a group of mobile food vendors getting together to sell their cuisine. They were also assembling to sell a new industry to a city with onerous restrictions meant to keep them from operating. The rally included five of Pittsburgh’s newest trucks —…
Una de Luna hopes to put together a 360-degree interactive live-streamed show
When local four-piece Una de Luna released its debut album, Conspiracy, in 2008, it was hailed as sexy, goth-y trip-hop. While much of that vibe remains on the follow-up, Lunacy, there’s something more forward, more aggressively dance-y about this one. The band — fronted by Marla Degenhardt, with Peter Guellard doing a lot of utility…
Lynn Cullen Live 10/24/12
Video Archive Potter’s column on Republicans in new City Paper; Republicans consider themselves America’s team & have decided the rest of us aren’t on it; a party that wants to deprive women of their rights; Mourdock: if a women gets pregnant after rape, it’s a gift from God; Repubs are the furthest thing from God;…
8cylinder works with static in the attic
“One of the things about being an electronic musician,” reflects Dave Crimm, “is that you can do it yourself. Introverted misanthropes get to sit in their attics and do it.” Crimm, who records and performs as 8cylinder, gets a lot done while sitting in his attic and being misanthropic. A computer programmer by day, he…
Church Brew Works earns national recognition
What do you get when a guy with 16 years’ experience in professional brewing — plus a master’s degree in chemistry — returns to Pittsburgh’s First Church of Fermentation? If you’re Lawrenceville’s Church Brew Works, you get a slew of accolades at this year’s Great American Beer Festival. The festival, held Oct. 10-12 and organized…
CD Reviews
The Meets Even When the Time Comes (Self-released) Five-track EP from Johnstown’s Brandon Locher. Knowing that one of these tracks was mastered by Nick Zammuto of The Books might help guide you toward an understanding of what The Meets is like: An understated but intentional compositional framework is overlaid with complex sound collage. Locher is…
Mini-cupcakes are the focus of a new bakery in Brookline
The steep cobblestone ascent of Capital Avenue off West Liberty Avenue at the border of Beechview and Brookline is already known for one food-related landmark, Fiori’s Pizzaria. If Alexandra Hagen has her way, it’ll soon be thought of as a place to grab a slice and a sweet — at her new mini-cupcake bakery, Le…
Critics’ Picks: October 24 – 30
[INDIE-ROCK] + FRI., OCT. 26 Since releasing its first EP in 2010, Grouplove has earned some serious bragging rights. In a few short years, the band has toured with big names like Foster the People and Florence + the Machine, and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart with the single “Tongue Tied,”…
Meet the folks behind popular Facebook page “Abandoned, Old & Interesting Places — Western PA.”
Jim Percy compares his interest in photographing certain areas of Pennsylvania to the drive that leads undersea explorers to the wreckage of the Titanic. “It’s seeing something that hasn’t been touched by human hands in years,” explains Percy, who with his wife, Holly Harris, runs the Facebook project “Abandoned, Old & Interesting Places — Western…
Gothic Nightmare
Navigation President of the United States United States Senate House of Representatives District 12 Pennsylvania Attorney General Know your rights at the polls It’s not that the Republican politicians awaiting Paul Ryan’s arrival on Oct. 20 looked scary. Incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey and U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy … Senate candidate Tom Smith and House candidate…
Industrial Arts Co-op’s “The Workers” disappoints as public sculpture.
Size matters. At least when we’re talking about outdoor sculpture. Public art often must compete with its surroundings, and one strategy is to go big and bold. Think Claes Oldenburg’s 101-foot-tall baseball bat in Chicago, Fastwürm’s 100-foot “Woodpecker Column” in Toronto, or Jonathan Borofsky’s 48-foot “Hammering Man” outside the Seattle Art Museum. Playing with scale…
U.S. President
Navigation President of the United States United States Senate House of Representatives District 12 Pennsylvania Attorney General Know your rights at the polls “The War on Coal” Republicans have been trying to convince voters in Western Pennsylvania and elsewhere that new EPA regulations on power plants constitute a “war on coal” that is hurting local…
Maple and Vine
MAPLE AND VINE continues through Nov. 4. City Theatre 1300 Bingham St. South Side. $15-55. 412-431-2489 or www.citytheatrecompany.org The setting for the new show at City Theatre could be described this way. Time: The Present. Place: America in the ’50s. In his 2011 work Maple and Vine, playwright Jordan Harrison imagines a group of people…
US Senate
Navigation President of the United States United States Senate House of Representatives District 12 Pennsylvania Attorney General Know your rights at the polls The candidates Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. is seeking his second term in the U.S. Senate. The son of late former geovernor, Bob Casey Sr., he previously served two terms as Pennsylvania…
Ainadamar
Ainadamar continues through Nov. 3. Quantum Theatre at East Liberty Presbyterian Church 116 S. Highland Ave East Liberty. $18-48. 888-718-4253 or quantumtheatre.com Barely 80 minutes long, with a cast of seven, Quantum Theatre’s production of Ainadamar is nonetheless huge. Director Karla Boos fills the large hall of East Liberty Presbyterian Church with much video, sound…
U.S. House District 12
Navigation President of the United States United States Senate House of Representatives District 12 Pennsylvania Attorney General Know your rights at the polls The candidates If you happen to live in District 12, which ranges from Johnstown to the North Hills and Lawrence County, you are facing one of the toughest decisions in this election.…
Nothing But the Blues
NOTHING BUT THE BLUES continues through Oct. 28. New Horizon Theater at the Kingsley Association 6435 Frankstown Ave. Larimer 412-421-0773 or newhorizontheater@yahoo.com The premise of Nothing But the Blues would strain credulity if it weren’t based on a real story. In November 1983, Theresa Needham faced the closing of her tiny basement nightclub, which had…
State Attorney General
Navigation President of the United States United States Senate House of Representatives District 12 Pennsylvania Attorney General Know your rights at the polls Backgrounds Former Lackawanna County Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Kane is seeking to become the first woman to be elected to the post of Pennsylvania Attorney General. But she’ll have to beat Republican…
The Producers
THE PRODUCERS continues through Sun., Oct. 28. Rockwell Theater Pittsburgh Playhouse 222 Craft Ave. Oakland. $18-20. 412-392-8000 or pittsburghplayhouse.com How many synonyms are there for “big”? You need them to describe the Conservatory Theatre Co.’s production of The Producers. Huge cast. Multiple sets. Colossal chutzpah. Large laughs. A towering monument to musical talent and bad…
Election Day FAQs
Navigation President of the United States United States Senate House of Representatives District 12 Pennsylvania Attorney General Know your rights at the polls So do I need an ID to vote or what? No. Not unless this is your first time voting at your polling place. But … the TV said … We’re telling you.…
Novel explores racism in Chicago.
Race relations in Chicago is an issue of intimidating breadth and complexity. A new short novel by Bob Hartley examines it through a microcosm — the perspective of an Irish-American boy in the summer of 1962. Following Tommy (Červená Barva Press) describes the arrival of the first black family in a white neighborhood on the city’s…
Of the trolls, by the trolls, and for the trolls
If you’re a Democrat in Western Pennsylvania, this has been a tough autumn. In Congressional races, Pittsburghers are being asked to vote for a slate of pro-life Democrats, some of whom barely seem alive themselves. (I’m looking at you, Bob Casey.) And for all of his successes — advancing the LGBT agenda, stabilizing a still-weak…
A Conversation with Green Party Vice-Presidential Candidate Cheri Honkala
Cheri Honkala, a longtime Philadelphia social-justice activist, is the Green Party’s vice-presidential candidate. Honkala and presidential nominee Jill Stein are on the ballot in Pennsylvania and 37 other states. Honkala was arrested outside Hofstra University prior to the Oct. 16 presidential debate, one day before this interview took place. Sounds like you had a bit…
Savage Love
What do I say to my straight 14-year-old son about porn? My sister tells me that research shows my son has been looking at porn for three years already. Am I too late? Distressed Anxious Dad According to the Today show and the American Family Association and most of what pops up when you Google…
Alex Cross
Alex Cross Directed by: Rob Cohen Starring: Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox, Ed Burns Two-thirds of the way through Rob Cohen’s thriller Alex Cross, I wrote in my notebook “Why?” The question mark was one of many piling up in this painfully thin story of a cop chasing a psycho killer who is also chasing him.…
