Actor in Wolf commercial did horror flick; shit gets blown way out of proportion
While there have been no shortage of attack ads in recent months in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race, it has been lacking in one major area: moral outrage. That ended Monday afternoon, when the Chris Christie-led Republican Governor’s Association — which has already donated well north of $5 million to Gov. Tom Corbett’s reelection campaign — began…
City reaches agreement with Penguins on lower Hill District development
After months of community meetings, today the city announced they’d reached an agreement with the Pittsburgh Penguins on development of the 28-acre lower Hill District site. “It’s goal is to build transformational wealth for the residents of the greater Hill District,” said Mayor Bill Peduto. From left: Kevin Acklin, Bill Peduto, Daniel Lavelle and Travis…
Rev. Jesse Jackson brings campaign for voting rights amendment to Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto says the United States is among 11 nations who elect public officials but do not guarantee citizens the right to vote. Today, he joined Rev. Jesse Jackson and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald in advocating for a constitutional amendment that would protect the right to vote. “It’s time for the United…
Tonight at Thunderbird: Broncho
The Oklahoma garage punks are back with a new record.
City of Asylum Jazz Poetry Concert Under the Big Top
Reading by Pittsburgh-born Gerald Stern a highlight
Last Week for “Tamara” at Quantum Theatre
The shows are sold out — but if you’re going, here are some tips
Lynn Cullen Live 09/08/14
Video Archive Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
City says officer involved in Pride arrest did not use excessive force
The city announced this afternoon that officer Souroth Chatterji did not use excessive force when he arrested 19-year-old Ariel Lawther at a June 15 PrideFest event. The incident grew widespread attention after a video surfaced which showed Chatterji pulling Lawther out of a crowd by the hair and neck just before punching her several times.…
Locally Shot Filmmaking Docu-Series Premieres Tomorrow
“The Chair” airs on STARZ
ToonSeum Head, Founder Draws Self Out of the Picture
After seven years, group faces challenge of replacing Joe Wos
Lynn Cullen Live 09/04/14
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski; Kissinger is shrinking; what’s happening with the August Wilson Center; the way we educate children these days is absurd; ACLU Banned Books Night; North Carolina brothers freed after being wrongly accused, 30 years in prison; crushing on John Donne; Caller: PJ, Greensburg. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives…
What we know about Pittsburgh’s next police chief
In October 2011, after two shootings occurred in the Northside of Madison, Wis., locals say then police Capt. Cameron McLay developed a new approach to policing in the community. He began assigning officers to work in specific areas where they’d be responsible for getting to know the residents, not just by patrolling the neighborhood, but…
No No: A Dockumentary
No No: A Dockumentary Directed by: Jeffrey Radice Starts: Fri., Sept. 5. Harris On June 12, 1970, Pittsburgh Pirate Dock Ellis pitched against San Diego while high on LSD. “I had the acid on me,” Ellis recalls. “I lost all concept of time.” But he kept his arm, racking up a no-hitter that would have…
The Cloak Room steps into the space left behind by Shadow Lounge
One of my favorite Pittsburgh colloquialisms is, “Oh that place? That’s where Insert Name of Place That Was There Before used to be.” Well, there’s a new place — The Cloak Room — where the Shadow Lounge used to be. “This is a legendary space,” says Cloak Room manager Joey Hilty. “They set a huge…
The Congress
Ari Folman’s The Congress mixes live action with animation, a critique of Hollywood with a trippy sci-fi plot, and the real-life career of actress Robin Wright with rampant speculation about her future. It’s an ambitious project that mostly succeeds — it’s too long, and does fall into a few rabbit holes — and is surely…
Learn how to safely forage for mushrooms at the annual Gary Lincoff Mushroom Foray
Even a shade-loving species like the mushroom sometimes gets a day in the sun. And thanks to an increased interest in locavorism, “More people are interested in foraging for mushrooms,” says Barbara DeRiso, a “mushroom enthusiast” who serves as treasurer for the Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club. “The woods are a little more picked over than…
Frank
Jon (Domhnall Gleeson) is an aspiring but not-at-all-talented songwriter who impulsively joins an experimental pop-noise band that is in sudden need of a keyboardist. Thus, he finds himself trapped in an Irish cabin for months with the band’s mostly asocial members, including the depressive Don (Scoot McNairy) and the angry Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal). The band…
Michael Christopher looks for country-rock success via hard work and that one song
MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER BAND Noon, Sat., Sept. 6. Slippery Rock Village Fest Main Street, Slippery Rock. slipperyrock pa.org/villagefest or michael christopherband.com So you want to be a country-rock star? The way Michael Christopher sees it, all it takes is one song. Christopher — blue-eyed, square-jawed, bestubbled — of Penn Township, is backstage at the Crawford County…
Taking Back Sunday welcomes change without changing its shape
TAKING BACK SUNDAY 6 p.m. Wed., Sept. 10. Stage AE 400 North Shore Drive North Side. $28.50-30. All ages. 412-229-5483 or stageae.com If you’re of a certain age, you may fondly recall Taking Back Sunday from a mid-’00s, high school- or college-era mix CD or, more recently, an unfortunate karaoke performance. But whether you find…
Critics’ Picks: September 3 – 9
[INDIE] + THU., SEPT. 4 Calling S. Carey’s well-crafted songs “understated” would be, well, an understatement. The Bon Iver drummer’s latest solo effort, Range of Light, features vocals that are mostly just whispers, over arrangements of repetitive percussion and strings. It’s not overwhelming, but it’s beautiful; Carey’s current tour is a co-headliner with chamber-pop group…
New Releases
Romeo Harp Theatrix (Nu-Mogul) For a guy who’s pictured in a pretty dandy outfit on his album cover, and calls his full-length Theatrix, Romeo Harp goes pretty hard. This one starts aggressive, with a few upbeat, angry tracks, then settles into a sex-jam vibe for a bit. Harp is a decent rapper, but definitely an…
Photography is under the lens at this month’s Film Kitchen
The monthly series for local and independent work features shorts by three filmmakers, including two from the Hillman Photography Initiative’s documentary series “The Invisible Photograph.” Part I (16 min.) documents the little-known but astounding Corbis-Bettman Archive, a repository for thousands of historically important images in an underground limestone mine in Butler County. Bill Gates is…
Emerging from the Weeds: Led by a conservative senator, medical marijuana is gaining traction in Pa., but can relief come fast enough for patients most in need?
The pulpit of a small church in the North Hills is exactly the type of place you’d expect to see a conservative politician preaching to the choir. But tonight, state Sen. Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon) is singing from a different hymn sheet. “It’s funny having this meeting in a church,” Folmer tells the crowd of 100…
Language Lessons: Latino families finding disconnect with school communications
In the time since Raquel Castillo began volunteering at the Latino Family Center and getting to know other Latino parents in the Pittsburgh Public School District, she’s heard a common concern. “A lot of the schools do not have the notes, [event] flyers and newsletters that are sent home translated,” says Castillo, who is raising…
A review of Corey Escoto’s solo show at the Carnegie
COREY ESCOTO: SLEIGHT OF HAND continues through Sept. 29. Carnegie Museum of Art 4400 Forbes Ave. Oakland. 412-622-3131 or cmoa.org In its earliest days, photography lent itself to Spiritualism by reinforcing beliefs in the occult and the paranormal. Commercial photographers capitalized on double exposures and other tricks to create images of the dead, of spirits…
Pop Art
On bottling days, the former Nash automobile dealership along Natrona Heights’ River Avenue is transformed into a scene reminiscent of the opening credits of Laverne & Shirley. The whirring sounds of the machinery combine with the clinking of the glass bottles as they’re shuttled along turntables and conveyers. The scent of the flavor being bottled…
Kate Sweeney’s American Afterlife looks at death rituals
Don’t look for Stephen Foster on your lunch break. His blown-up likeness might watch over the Lawrenceville entrance to Allegheny Cemetery, but America’s first professional songwriter doesn’t draw attention to himself. Foster died penniless, yet like countless Pittsburghers past he shares a resting place with Negleys and Mellons. His modest stone sings a reminder that…
Rank Deception?
Hey, city Public Works crews! Stop working so hard! Turns out the roads are in great shape. Members of Mayor Bill Peduto’s Education Task Force? Your services are no longer needed. Our schools are already perfect. Or so we’ve been told by the latest survey purporting to document the world’s “Most Livable City,” this one…
The Pajama Men at City Theatre
THE PAJAMA MEN appear through Sun., Sept. 7. City Theatre 1300 Bingham St. South Side. $15-40. 412-431-2489 or citytheatre company.org Summer is drawing to a close, and theater companies are getting ready to present their fall slates. But before giving itself over completely to its upcoming season, City Theatre presents a two-week run of touring…
Savage Love
My wife and I went through a long-distance period when we were dating. I used porn as a masturbatory aid during that time. I did not tell her, as she believes that porn use is equivalent to cheating. Fast-forward a couple years (and a marriage), and I let it slip that I had watched some…
A review of Jeffrey Condran’s novel Prague Summer
Prague Summer By Jeffrey Condran Counterpoint Press, 288 pp., $26 Prague Summer, the first novel from local author Jeffrey Condran, is on several levels a book about books. Protagonist Henry Marten owns a rare-book dealership in the Czech capital, and he is immersed in books, as art and as objects. But this involving debut finds…
Short List: September 3 – 9
FREE EVENT: Sat., Sept. 6 — Concert City of Asylum/Pittsburgh’s Jazz Poetry Concert has been a hit since its inception. It annually draws hundreds for a free — and free-of-charge — blend of the two art forms, overseen by bandleader Oliver Lake and featuring internationally known poets. But its outdoors North Side venue left it…
Beat Cancer Pittsburgh benefit will give money to new holistic-treatment center
BEAT CANCER PITTSBURGH 6:30 p.m. Thu., Sept. 4. Hard Rock Café 230 W. Station Square Drive, Station Square. $30-75 beatcancerpittsburgh.com It wasn’t great news when this year’s Bluegrass and Beyond Music Festival in Harmony, Pa., was canceled — but Allie Koch, who’d been brought on to help with booking, decided to make the best of…
Stuff We Like
Free Shirt Fridays at PNC Park. T-shirts are the most practical ballpark giveaway. They come in two sizes, which is better than one. And none of this year’s designs are as bad as last year’s A.J. Burnett-flashing-gang-signs shirt. Just two Fridays left: Sept. 12 and Sept. 19. Herb’s Grape Refresher at Burgatory. The fancy burgers…
A dance-theater work addresses our digital disconnections
CorningWorks presents PARALLEL LIVES Wed., Sept. 10-Sun., Sept. 14. New Hazlett Theater 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. $25-30 (Sept. 14 show is pay-what-you-can). 888-718-4253 or newhazletttheater.org You see them everywhere: the countless people tethered to cell phones and computers — texting, surfing and interacting with social media but seemingly detached from the physical world…
Istanbul Sofra
Istanbul Sofra 7600 Forbes Ave. Regent Square. 412-727-6693 Hours: Daily 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Prices: Appetizers, soups and salads $4-14; entrees $11-23 Liquor: YOB On a prime corner in Regent Square, graced with outdoor dining across from Frick Park, a likable local restaurant recently pulled up stakes. Alma’s pan-Latin offerings will be missed, but happily, they…
Lynn Cullen Live 09/03/14
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; Angelina’s wedding dress; Shailene Woodley makes her own toothpaste from clay; eating dirt keeps you young; # of poll respondents are dropping; culture & perception; Callers: PJ, Greensburg / Unknown. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio…
