Registration: New One for the Thumb
Would-be new voters can use their thumbs to move the voter-registration process along, but they have to move fast — registration for the November election closes in a week. Text the Vote, a new program launched by the Pittsburgh chapter of the League of Young Voters, lets people send a text message that gets them…
Thoughts (on Paper) Policed
The lawyer for a Donora woman indicted on obscenity charges at the end of September says the charges are an abuse of the legal system. As City Paper reported last year, Karen Fletcher, now 54, ran an erotic tales Web site, www.red-rose-stories.com, that offered paid downloads (Oct. 27, 2005: “Porn on the Page of the Beholder”). Her…
Raising Prospect of Raises
Pittsburgh women will soon get a new solution to an old problem — the gender wage gap. Women still make 70 cents for every dollar earned by men in comparable professions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics; in response, the local Women and Girls Foundation is launching a new program, Catapult, to train men…
Crime Inc.
Just two days after the senseless and tragic shooting of five students at Duquesne University, the FBI released its annual report of crime statistics, titled Crime in the U.S. While the report belies the events on the Bluff, it appears that Pittsburgh, already the safest city of its size, according to the FBI, became even…
Azul Bar y Cantina
There’s a hot new Mexican place in town. No, not this town. But it’s got food that will stop you in your tracks — in Leetsdale. Where? Leetsdale is a tiny town out past Sewickley, on Ohio River Boulevard. Here, on an otherwise quiet residential street, California transplants Angus and Donna Peterkin opened Azul Bar…
Claiming Dominion
During the day, the plaza next to Dominion Tower at 625 Liberty Ave., with its sculptures and marble benches, is a gathering spot for the lunch crowd and smokers. It also sees the occasional teenage roller-skater, and a steady stream of pedestrians crossing between the Cultural District and other parts of Downtown. But “it’s a…
A Conversation with Robbie Wise
Spend enough time Downtown and you’ll cross paths with magician Robbie Wise. Wise, 44, of Spring Hill, has been doing magic most of his life. He plies his craft on the street when he’s not working bars or parties. If the card table of tricks doesn’t pull you in, he’s hoping the tuxedo and top…
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
The title of Kirby Dick’s documentary is catchy, if not quite true. This Film Is Not Yet Rated received an NC-17 rating, but more about that later. First, let’s sort out where these movie ratings come from. The Motion Picture Academy of America was established in 1968, with the lofty goal of staving off censorship…
The Costa Doing Business
Mayor Ravenstahl — Usually, I find it presumptuous to give anyone job advice. I mean, if I were so smart, would I be working here? Then again, a lot of people think it’s presumptuous for you to have your job, considering you’re only 26. I’m not one of those people. I’ve watched you in city…
Shades of Gray
While he’s often referred to as the master of dark and light, dance icon Paul Taylor says that his works are more nuanced than they might appear on the surface.
Can Pirates Fans Keep the Faith?
Is it safe to reserve a seat on the Pirates bandwagon for next year? Since the All-Star break, we’ve seen this year’s players produce; as I write this, they’re flirting with a .500 record in the season’s second half. But was the winning for real? Can we trust the brain trust at Pirates headquarters to…
The U.S. vs. John Lennon
At some time in the future, hopefully not too long from now, when Islam goes the way of Christianity — with suburban glass churches that seat 3,000 of Jesus’ closest friends — will we look back on our fear of terrorism and wonder what all the anxiety was about? No, probably not. But why was…
The Last King of Scotland
The political thriller The Last King of Scotland assures us it is “inspired by real people and real events.” There may not have been a brash young Scottish doctor named Nicholas Garrigan, who in 1971 combined his medical training with a bit of African adventure. But as anybody of a certain age recalls, there certainly…
A Conversation with Secret Machines’ Josh Garza
Cranking up Secret Machines’ Ten Silver Drops entails some risk: the risk that, like Kurt Vonnegut’s character Billy Pilgrim, you’ll find yourself unstuck in time. From the plainspoken regret of “Alone, Jealous and Stoned” through the interstellar “Lightning Blue Eyes” and the tumultuous “Daddy’s in the Doldrums,” the record’s a mesmerizing, epic trip. It’s reasonable…
Matmos
As Matmos, the team of Martin C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel gleefully shapes some of the most accessible and thought-provoking avant-garde sounds, deftly balancing the realms of academia, the indie underground and the discotheque. Schmidt has served on the art faculty of the San Francisco Art Institute for the past decade. Daniel, a Ph.D. candidate…
After Mrs. Rochester
Late in what can only be described as a very turbulent life, novelist Jean Rhys (born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams on the island of Dominica) wrote the modern classic Wide Sargasso Sea, a fantasia of sorts on characters and events in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. You know what? I never read either of them ……
Prince of the City
Wiz Khalifa stands alone. Swathed in a baggy T-shirt, he’s utterly alone onstage at Mr. Small’s Theatre. His lanky frame sways to the track as he works the packed house, and the mic: Who’s the kid spittin’ flames, changing the game? His name is Wiz Khalifa, man … I got that Pittsburgh sound, I’m gonna…
Body in Motion
Eve Ensler travels constantly, and internationally. That vocation has led the 53-year-old New York-based playwright to works exploring women’s lives around the globe, including The Vagina Monologues and The Good Body. Vagina Monologues was first performed in a Manhattan café basement, in 1996; thanks to Ensler’s social activism, it’s now an international phenomenon including her…
Other People, or Else A Dog
Of all the nonfiction writers out there, Susan Orlean seems among the best candidates for a memoir. For one, her passport has enough stamps to rival Bono’s. And let’s face it, most people haven’t had Meryl Streep play them in a feature film. But while the trend in nonfiction seems to be writing about one’s…
