Over Her Dead Body
OK, maybe not quite an angel, but it’s fair to say one party is from the Great Beyond. After his fiancée dies micro-managing their wedding, a snappy vet (Paul Rudd) tries to move on with a cheery caterer/psychic (Lake Bell). But the ghostly fiancée (Eva Longoria) has set her considerable talents for being annoying on…
Going Through the Motions: Jan. 22 and 29
Apparently there’s a method to getting a private contract for city work. Let’s review: Step 1. Promise to do a service for a specified amount of money — let’s say $11.7 million over three years — that is cheaper than the city’s current expenditure. Step 2. With about a year left on your contract, announce…
Paradiso Ristorante
This Downtown venue offers familiar Italian fare and a few distinctive dishes
This Just In: Jan 30 – Feb 6
Highlights from the local TV news: Reporting from the gut on stomach ailments and exhibits on poop.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Gargaro coats the production with a nonstop, energetic explosion of strong dancing and stronger voices; there are cartoonish and campy and sexy touches, as well as nods to Fosse, Berkeley and Brel.
Journey of the Spirits
The production’s strength is the music, gloriously sung by this cast, especially Stevie Akers, Teri Bridgett, Marcia L. Jones, and Tasha Michelle.
House Call
Following an arrest-filled protest last year at the National Robotics Engineering Center, a recent follow-up at the director’s home matched the tranquil surroundings.
Dying is fine, to Ra Ra Riot
“There wasn’t a whole lot going on, so I think our intention was to make something go on.”
Untraceable
In Gregory Hoblit’s icky thiller, Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) is tasked with cruising the Web’s nefarious corners. She’s about to discover KillWith Me, a Web site that streams live-video of murders, that also boasts a fresh gimmick: The more who log on to watch, the faster the victim dies. OK, so the Internet may make…
Honeydripper
Indie director John Sayles’ film is set in 1950, amidst the working-class black folks of a sleepy Alabama town. There a nightclub owner (Danny Glover) finds salvation in the form of a young man (Gary Clark Jr.) with an electric guitar. Though Honeydripper is hardly the most provocative work of Sayles’ career, its nostalgic heart…
My husband and I moved to Pittsburgh about four years ago. Our house has the usual basement toilet and four other bathroom toilets — but two of them have no sinks. Are these sinkless bathrooms from before they knew about germs?
Ah, another City Paper reader whose mind is in the toilet. Regular readers of this column (Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad!) will recall that I addressed the subject of the basement toilet — that notable fixture of working-class housing in Pittsburgh and other cities — two weeks ago. But I barely plumbed the depths of a…
Pittsburgh Songwriters Circle releases annual compilation
Outstanding contributions include George Kantor’s “Wendell and Cass,” the ballad of the New York Aquarium’s gay penguin pair.
Returning Pittsburgher Mike Blackhurst has power-pop to spare
The real focus of this disc is squarely on quirky pop of the early Costello variety, with stinging guitars chasing bass and drums through intriguing rhythmic shifts.
Third installment from Chancellorpink keeps it weird
Chancellorpink’s sound is outsider rock informed by new wave and Bowie-style pop weirdness.
At the Carnegie Library, a computer program helps children write stories.
“The concept is close to a fairy tale,” says Baugh. “There’s a problem and a goal, allowing kids to create conflict resolution.”
Sensuality and storytelling rule in Let It Be a Dark Roux, new and selected poems by Sheryl St. Germain.
St. Germain’s newest poems feel more universal than her earlier work — less dependent on the “I” and more on the eye that surveys landscapes and relationships for meaning.
Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals gets its documents in order.
While the police mugshots sometimes emanate an air of insolence, in the 32 portraits of camp inmates, terror is unmistakable.
Global Food Market
If you need a frozen goat’s head, Ogbonna Moses Onwubiko is your man.
A Conversation with Mark Freeman
Some nights, it seems, you can’t attend a play, dance show or gallery opening in Pittsburgh without spotting Mark Freeman. The Rhode Island native moved here in 1988 to work for the U.S. Department of Energy, where he’s now an international program adviser for the National Energy Technology Laboratory. Freeman, of South Park, suggested CP…
Delorean Showcases get you something for nothing
“I’ve got a song called ‘Hot Dogs,’ because this kid just started shouting ‘Hot Dogs!’ at the other kids.”
Savage Love
I’m a 20-year-old bi girl and I’ve been with my boyfriend a little over a year. We’ve talked about having an FFM threesome, but we realized that we were not on the same page. I’d like to talk about some rules, just in case it happens as he imagines it — we pick up a…
Class Dismissed
[Editor’s note: As the print version of this story was going to press, school district Superintendent Mark Roosevelt announced plans to delay the implementation of reforms discussed in this story. Click here for an update on the new timetable.] “Do you know where you’re going?” reads a sign pinned to the wall of a first-floor…
Classical Theatre of Harlem visits with Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death.
With its funk, soul, jazz and blues, its political edge, its dark comedy and sexual themes, the work has been cited as a precursor to rap music and contemporary spoken-word performance.
Attack Theatre tracked some far-flung collaborators for Preserve and Pursue.
“I’m going to a castle in Italy and write you the most beautiful piece I’ve ever written.”
Diversity: Tackling the issue
Experts say the first step in battling racism is actually talking about it.
History: Yinz can learn about Pittsburghese online
If you’re going to use Yinzer slang, make sure you’re using it correctly.
Roosevelt asks to delay school district restructuring
As presses were rolling on City Paper’s Jan. 30 issue — whose cover story details plans for Schenley High School and other schools throughout the district — district administrators announced plans to delay implementation of their proposals. Originally, school board members were expected to vote on Schenley’s fate, and that of its students, on Feb…
