The Revenants at Pittsburgh Playwrights
In preparation for writing a preview piece on this show a few weeks ago, I read the script, and felt some ambivalence. It didn’t have much to do with the play’s premise: Two couples are trapped in a suburban basement in a town under siege by zombies, and one member of each has become undead.…
Wards 7 and 14: WTF?
Obviously the big election story yesterday was the pathetic turnout: Countywide, fewer than one voter out of every four showed up at the polls (according to as-yet unofficial tallies). That’s down from about 29 percent in 2007. No surprise, right? In Pittsburgh, at least, the three-way race for mayor never generated much interest … as…
Blech
Well, look on the bright side. At least the anti-Ravenstahl crowd doesn’t have to engage in a cycle of finger-pointing about what would have happened if either Kevin Acklin or Dok Harris dropped out of the race. With 55 percent of the vote, Ravenstahl beat their vote tallies when combined. Acklin and Harris DID divvy…
Election Day Thoughts
Bloggers have been all aflutter over the fact that Mayor Luke Ravenstahl had his endorsement written by his mother, while challenger Kevin Acklin’s endorsement was penned by his uncle, retired fire captain Danny Acklin. (The Dok Harris endorsement was written by Shadow Lounge owner Justin Strong.) Even the P-G’s own Reg Henry seemed shamefaced. But…
Voting the Party Line: not as easy as it used to be
Used to be that “voting the party line” was a synonym for thoughtless voting. But in this year’s mayoral race, straight-party voting takes a bit of deliberation. Here at City Paper, we’ve already heard one complaint — from the husband of a staffer’s landlady — about a voter who “pulled the straight-party lever”* for the…
MP3 Monday: Emily Rodgers
Last month marked the debut of local singer-songwriter Emily Rodgers on Misra Records, with Bright Day, an album recorded with her full band. Manny Theiner, reviewing it for City Paper, described the album’s sound as “a shimmer similar to that of the Galaxie catalog or Mazzy Star.” (See full article.) At her subsequent CD release…
Taking Responsibility? (UPDATED)
A curious wrinkle has developed in the last few days of the mayoral campaign. The Citizens for Political Reponsibility — who I’ve previously noted as Dok Harris’ biggest PAC contributor — suddenly seems to be taking a more active role in the race. A pro-Harris Web site, MiraculousElection.com, went live just a few days ago,…
Token of Achievement
Pittsburgh’s video-game industry is — finally — getting some credit
Tetro
An 18-year-old American named Bennie (Alden Ehrenreich) tracks down his long-lost older brother, Tetro (Vincent Gallo), now living as a failed writer in a Buenos Aires artist colony. Bitter conversations and flashbacks gradually sketch what separated the brothers — a deeply dysfunctional family of creatives (musicians, writers, singers, dancers) that proved to be more destructive…
Flame and Citron
Ole Christian Madsen’s World War II drama is reputedly the most expensive Danish film ever made. There is none of the lo-fi murk of recent Dogme films; it’s handsomely filmed, and plenty of loot was expended on period automobiles and Nazi uniforms. The story, set in 1944 during the German occupation of Copenhagen, follows two…
Amelia
Most people know that Amelia Earhart flew airplanes back when women rarely did. And when she disappeared over the Pacific while piloting one, she left behind the romantic image of a smiling, vibrant gal, forever departing on some grand aeronautic adventure. Truthfully, there’s not much more to take away from Mira Nair’s glossy, mild-mannered bio-pic…
A Serious Man
The philosophical question at the center of A Serious Man is not what G-d has in store for its characters, who are all educated, middle-class Jews living in Minnesota, c. late 1960s. It’s really what their almighty creators, J-el and Ethan C-en, have in mind to do with them. The film tells the story of…
Blue Dust
A casual eatery in Homestead, worth crossing the tracks for.
Chet Vincent’s Desert Gold offers an appealing rootsy conglomerate
Whether or not Vincent has ever been to the places he writes about, he convinces the listener he’s at home there.
The Dreadnots release a CD of disturbing, apocalyptic psychedelia
Few have plundered Christian/occult wackos with such impunity, so this return of paranoid eschatology is more than welcome.
Bricolage’s latest is a horror show about … parents, teen-agers and online gaming.
Suburban anomie blurs into psychological horror, and then into the real thing.
Count Dracula
Director W. Stephen Coleman and a fantastic cast walk the perilous lines among seriousness, melodrama and hilarity without ever falling into obviousness and overplay.
They Have Oak Trees in North Carolina
By the second act Wooley has proven to be such an interesting playwright you’re more than willing to overlook her few missteps
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
This production is so powerful because the visual aspects so complement and underline the verbal.
Washer & Dryer
A poem by Heather McNaugher
Arrowhead Wines at Trax Farms
A local farmstand is a great a place to sample local wines.
Disorder in the Court
Protesters say court decisions as arbitrary as G-20 police actions
ACORN Stock Falling
Bad publicity, GOP attacks and arrests have meant hard times for local chapter
Graphic and sometimes surreal, artist Ilene Winn-Lederer’s illuminated Torah brings the Hebrew Bible to life.
“I wanted to do this book because when I went to shul, I was bored to death.”
Lo-fi legend Phil Elverum blows into town with Mount Eerie’s Wind Poems
Under the echoing vocals, far-off-thunderstorm percussion and hazy guitar feedback is some of the most beautiful songwriting to come from the Pacific Northwest in a while.
Video-savvy Chicagoans OK Go bring retro pop to Mr. Small’s
“A lot of what we listened to growing up was ’80s pop radio — you had Prince, Michael Jackson and Cameo.”
Chicago’s Helen Money brings one-woman cello-rock to Brillobox
“I want to make music that’s intense and dark and makes me feel the way the music I like to listen to makes me feel.”
This Just In: October 29 – November 5
Highlights from the local TV news: Indian Bummer
Q & A: Alison Chesley of Helen Money
Today’s CP features my article on Chicago cellist Alison Chesley, a.k.a. Helen Money. Sometimes it’s tough to fit everything you’d like into the space you have to work with in the paper – but, thank heaven, the Internet is boundless. So here’s a mostly uncut version of the interview I did with Chesley last week…
Pittsburgh n’@
Dispatches from the blogosphere: Jeff Reed: Defender Of Public Urination
A photographic museum explores the 19th century’s profusion of images of dead children.
“I think this just came out of necessity, of people wanting that last image of their loved one before they were put into the ground.”
Erin Payne reminds us to never underestimate the kindness of bass players
“We need to raise $2,400 for this guy to keep his basses while he undergoes chemo.”
Can We Switch to De-Calfe?
State rep is better at McCarthyism than McCarthy
Savage Love
I’m a 67-year-old woman, almost 68, who has been married four times — once widowed (with three kids in their 40s who’ve turned out pretty well), divorced three times. I recently met someone online: 48, a wealthy, educated man with two boys, 12 and 14. He lives the cuckoldt lifestyle and is looking for a…
