The Music Lesson
The Music Lesson is an agreeable lesson in good intentions.
Summer-y Offenses
Even summer has its dark side. Killer heat waves. Stinging insects. Poison ivy. Sweaty people on the bus. And if you’re like us, before you can take a week off from work, you have to work twice as hard the week before you leave. You almost need some time off just to prepare yourself for…
Walls Flower
The backbone of this stunning show is a meticulous constructed environment composed entirely of salvaged scraps from abandoned lots near the gallery.
Pittsburgh Net Radio changes its format
Cosgrove restructured the site as a blog format, where different Pittsburgh personalities program their own online mixtapes.
Shark Sucker
“I’m pleased and happy to repeat the news that we have, in fact, caught and killed a large predator that supposedly injured some bathers. But, as you see, it’s a beautiful day, the beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time.” — Mayor Vaughn to reporters, Jaws The summer I was 6, my…
Zine hero Dishwasher Pete dishes on his new book.
A few years into his quest to wash dishes for pay in all 50 states, Pete Jordan realized that what he was really doing was hunting for a town to call home. With his vagabond’s satisfaction in working as little as possible and quitting jobs at a moment’s notice, and his working-class disdain for bosses,…
Two student shows celebrate the possibilities in overlooked materials.
It’s starting to look as though Oscar the Grouch got his own home-makeover show on HGTV.
Total Carnie-age
It was the sort of California road trip that gives the Golden State a bad rep. Traffic was backed up on Highway 17, which snakes out of San Jose over the hills and to the ocean; the summer sun turned our old Dodge Dart into a POW sweat box. Despite the heat, our windows were…
Community says jobs needed to curb Homewood crime
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl offers more police to crime-plagued neighborhoods … but residents say the key to reducing violence is more jobs. “It looks like every other meeting we’ve had,” worries one Homewood resident.
Under the Gun
Let’s call all victims of the city’s violence “casualties of war.” It’s a death march with an entire soundtrack.
Paradise Lost
The barrachudos were nothing — at first. A droplet of blood on your skin being the only indication you had been bitten by these little flies. It took a day for the bites to reach their peak intensity of itchiness that didn’t allow you to sleep for days. Brazil was beautiful and the island we…
Local “Wiki” master done in by “sock puppets”
During the 1970s, the principal of Taylor Allderdice High School routinely used morning announcements to plead with students to “please keep the pot-smoking out of the stairwells.” And the student newspaper frequently carried ads urging students to make money by selling drugs in their spare time. Or maybe not. A debate about the drug culture…
Jumping the Gun
Once again, the morning paper and the evening news are filled with reports of homicides and shootings. Once again, communities are being held hostage by remorseless thugs … people who think only of their own gratification, no matter how much misery they cause innocent people. I’m speaking of course, about Pennsylvania Republicans. On April 24…
The Wrong Track
Glorious Lakeside Amusement Park in Denver. For years, I’d heard about its Art Deco rides and neon lights. So on one of our crazy cross-country trips, when my family puts up with weeks of 400-mile days — and, worse, taking that many photos each day — we headed for Denver. We endured a “check engine”…
Vicious Cycle
Although bicyclists say they are no strangers to passersby who taunt them or motorists forcing them off the streets, some cycling advocates are particularly disturbed by the latest string of incidents, which include at least two beatings, as posted on the electronic bulletin board of Bike Pittsburgh, a local advocacy group. Bike Pittsburgh’s membership and…
Thrown-Away Talent
Maybe the last, best chance the Buccos have is for Snell and Gorzelanny to get good and angry. If you think it’s painful watching the Pirates lose from your seat in the left-field bleachers, just imagine how pitchers Tom Gorzelanny and Ian Snell feel on the mound. As of this writing, the Pirates have 15…
Cleaned Out
When I was 16, on spring break, my family drove down to Florida in our big brown Ford LTD to see our grandparents. In our absence, the next-door neighbor, Margie, took care of our dog, Fonzie (named in the mid-1970s). About five days into our 10-day trip, Margie called and hysterically told us that she…
Scathing Bonds
Sports collectors of the world take note: If you want a discount on Barry Bonds merchandise, come to the city where his career began. In other places across the country, Bonds memorabilia goes for hundreds of dollars, but at B.C. Sports Collectibles, at the Ross Park Mall, an autographed bat originally priced at $650 can…
For Momma
Poem by Rimma Hussain
Deep Trouble
Bryce Canyon National Park, in southwestern Utah, is like being on another planet. The natural amphitheater has fantastical red, orange, pink, salmon and white geological formations. Canyon hiking is unique in that you get to do the fun part first — hike down — and the hard part — climbing back out of the canyon…
Battles’ Mirrored features Don Caballero alum
Every note seems locked into some pointillistic, polyrhythmic groove; even a sharp intake of breath can become a song’s main pulse.
Savage Love
I’m having a problem. Twice when my girlfriend has given me oral sex, I’ve come in her mouth and then a little urine came out. She’s understandably mad. The first time it happened was in the morning when I had wood, so I thought it was just me being full of piss, but the second…
Fairs, Festivals and Special Events
Through May 20 Pittsburgh International Children’s Festival. Theater, performances, hands-on activities. West Park, North Side. 412-321-5520 or www.pghkids.org. Through Oct. 14 Butterfly Forest. Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Oakland. 412-622-6914 or www.phipps.conservatory.org. Through November Farmers’ Markets. Eight conveniently located markets in Pittsburgh. East Liberty, South Side, Carrick, City-County Building and North Side open week of…
CosmoSonics’ debut, Junk Rock … For Lovers!
An unapologetic, bombastic, raunchy ride, bursting with rock anthems.
Pittsburgh N’@
From: http://burghboyblogs.wordpress.com/ When will Mayor Lukey learn? Add to the list of mistakes Luke Ravenstahl has made in his first year as mayor his poor decision in supporting the casino construction before a proper traffic study can be conducted. Then he says, “I think it should be studied. Obviously you won’t have as good of a…
By the Numbers
Cinematic offerings at the multiplex will feel very, very familiar this summer. Adding a number to the title (or pretending you haven’t, Live Free or Die Hard) is practically de rigueur. Let’s count ’em off: Part Two: Eli Roth spills more blood in Hostel: Part II (June 8); fan boys will be sharpening their skills…
Area native’s debut novel evokes coal country.
Her novel smartly evokes the isolation of a place like Banning, where even Pittsburgh seems mythically remote, and the people most likely to harm you brush shoulders daily with your protectors.
This Just In: May 16 – 23
Highlights from the local TV news.
Summer Music Roundup
It’s a fact: The Police would rather play Detroit than Pittsburgh. Hell, they’d rather play Hershey than play here. But despite the usual gnashing of teeth about tours that skip Pittsburgh, this summer’s concert season — if not mind-blowing — at least has something for everyone. For example, there are can’t-miss shows for the weirdos…
Matthew Rosenblum’s avant-opera RedDust debuts
“I don’t know if I succeeded — the jury is still out, because I don’t have any distance from the piece.”
Fay Grim
Hartley has always made films with a wink, but this one threatens eye strain.
Concert Listings
May 17 Fairport Convention. Club Café, South Side, 412-431-4950. Make A Circus. Garfield Artworks, Garfield, 412-361-2262. The Album Leaf, Young Galaxy, Belong. Diesel, South Side, 412-431-8800. Chalk Outline Party, Triggers, DJ Edgar Um. Lava Lounge, South Side, 412-431-5282. Nekromantix, The Heart Attacks, Westbound Train, Society’s Parasite. Mr. Small’s Theatre, Millvale, 412-821-4447. Bow Wow. Petersen Events…
The Department of Good and Evil blends jazz and contemporary pop
It’s a bold set, yet it doesn’t come off as novelty.
Away From Her
Polley’s film is no disease-of-the-week hanky-buster; it turns over its themes of memory, devotion, guilt and sacrifice with a refreshing lack of easy sentimentality.
Sports and Recreation
CITY POOLS City park pools open June 15, through Labor Day. Programs include swimming lessons and swim teams. Purchase pool tags for the season or pay a daily entrance fee. 412-323-7928. TENNIS Regional tennis courts are open in Frick, Highland, McKinley, Mellon, Schenley and West parks. Summer programs include camps and lessons. 412-244-4188. LAWN BOWLING…
Literate, rootsy trio Low Water
The helpless (but not hopeless) feeling that life makes sense … even if you’re royally fucked tomorrow.
Silk Screen Film Festival
The festival presents 20 films, from North America, the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, representing the diversity of Asian and Asian-American experiences.
Kids Activities
The Andy Warhol Museum, North Side. 412-237-8300 or www.warhol.org. Ongoing activities for kids include hands-on creative activity in the “Weekend Factory” and more. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, various locations. Branches of the library offer story-telling hours and other activities all summer long. Events range from a June 21 “Smelly Scavenger Hunt” at the Woods Run…
The Old Haunts
If the independent music scene in Olympia, Wash., had a family tree, there would be a whole lot of inbreeding in it.
The Ex
Jesse Peretz’s featherweight film is two parts workplace comedy to one part domestic piffle.
Art
Current 707 Penn Gallery. George A. Lipchak: New Drawings/Dibujos Nuevos. 709 Penn. Through My Eyes, through May 19. American Jewish Museum. The Forgotten Photographs: The Work of Paul Goldman, 1943-1961, through May 31. The Andy Warhol Museum. 6 Billion Perps Held Hostage! Artists Address Global Warming, through June 17; Buggin’: Taps for Justice (exhibit on…
Stuff Happens
The true brilliance of Hare’s work is that he never lets us forget that at every juncture, each man involved had the opportunity to stop the rush of history he was helping to (mis)shape.
28 Weeks Later
Plenty of style — a pounding score, rapidly edited attacks, gore galore and huge special effects — goes a long way to covering up a rather silly plot.
Theater
Plays are listed by opening date. For theater locations and contact info, see the index at the end of this listing. Ongoing The Art of Dining. A restaurant comedy, through May 19 (Little Lake Theater). Eleemosynary. The Lee Blessing comedy, through May 19 (Echo Theatre). Not Now, Darling! The farce by Ray Cooney and John…
Intimate Apparel
This is revisionist history at its happy-go-luckiest, and if you don’t mind comfort and predictability, Intimate Apparel is a pleasure to watch.
D’s Six Pax & Dogz
D’s big, beefy hot dogs are well seasoned with noticeable garlic notes, and the sauerkraut is a cut above.
