John Adams at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
The style of music John Adams is known for, and which he composed for his opera Nixon in China, will be broadly familiar to anyone who’s heard a Philip Glass film soundtrack (like Thin Blue Line or The Ice Storm): spare clusters of notes repeated, often across stately chord changes, to somewhat hypnotic effect. It’s…
Did another blog just bite the dust?
Looks like the Burghosphere just suffered its latest virtual casualty. 414 Grant Street appears to have gone dead. The blog’s last post was in mid-December, if memory serves, and said something about taking time off for the holidays. While it pledged to return sometime in the New Year, it hadn’t been updated in nearly a…
Natalia Rudiak officially announces council candidacy
As first reported here (somewhat cursorily), Natalia Rudiak is running for City Council District 4, the seat currently held by Jim Motznik. She made it official — or at least officially announced that she was going to make it official — with a press release sent this morning. Excerpts of the release follow, but I’ll…
Meet Lindsay Baxter, the city’s new sustainability coordinator.
“If we could make [the building] super-efficient, healthy for its employees, it could really be a showcase for other building owners around the country, to see you don’t have to have new construction to be efficient,” says Baxter.
Burning Desire
Well, this is it. If you’ve been waiting for a date by which we must act to have any hope of preventing the worst effects of climate change, your answer is here. And the answer is, pretty much, today. Last June, NASA’s chief climate scientist, James Hansen, told Congress that unless we seriously address this…
Not Easily Broken
One hates to dump on a movie that has its heart in the right place — one that encourages steadiness; goal-setting; the value of friends, family, marriage and spirituality; and physical fitness. But Bill Dukes’ inspirational dramedy, adapted from Rev. T.D. Jakes’ novel, generated more laughs and catcalls from the audience than tears and heartfelt…
Last Chance Harvey
It’s a rarity of sorts: a romantic comedy set over the course of a wedding weekend without any profanity, nudity, sexual situations, underwear scenes, upended cakes or “stars” known only to regular watchers of teen-oriented TV. Joel Hopkins’ light but earnest film matches the perennially single, somewhat defeated Londoner Kate (Emma Thompson) with Harvey (Dustin…
I’ve Loved You So Long
The directorial debut of French novelist Phillipe Claudel is a domestic melodrama interwoven with a mystery. Two adult sisters reunite, after one of them, Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas), returns from a 15-year prison term to stay with the other, the trusting Léa (Elsa Zylberstein), who was a child when Juliette was sent away. The narrative…
Chop Shop
Those who enjoyed Ramin Bahrani’s Man Push Cart, about a struggling immigrant street vendor in Manhattan, will likely consider this another worthy chapter detailing unseen lives in New York City. Alejandro’s world is the dodgy auto-repair yards in Willet’s Point, Queens, where the parentless pre-teen hustles odd jobs, sleeps in a garage and dreams of…
Revolutionary Road
Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet) are the golden young couple of the late 1950s: They are also miserable — separately and together. With its meticulously rendered costumes, settings and traditional mid-century mores Sam Mendes’ handsomely filmed work initially suggest that Revolutionary Road will be about how life was before we all got…
Gran Torino
In his new movie set in working-class Detroit, Clint Eastwood plays a septuagenarian and newly widowed Korean War veteran named Walt. He’s emotionally distant from his selfish sons, and he hates his “gook” neighbors. Truth is, he really hates everybody. But after a bungled robbery, Walt slowly becomes a protector of his two teen-age Hmong…
There’s more to the Public’s Metamorphoses than the onstage pool.
“One of the things she does is remind us that these myths are still relevant to us today.”
Jersey Boys
This production, directed by Des McAnuff, is one of the most brilliantly directed musicals I’ve ever seen.
Media: P-G buyouts may still not be deep enough to avoid layoffs
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is not done shedding familiar names in its editorial staff — and the number of employees taking company-offered buyouts still may not be enough to avoid layoffs. Fashion editor LaMont Jones Jr., who took the latest buyout and exited on Dec. 31, after 15 years there, blamed “the uncertainty of the industry…
Neighborhoods: South Side Hospital closure might not yet be done deal
When officials from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) announced in June that South Side Hospital would soon close, their decision seemed final. At a town-hall meeting with UPMC officials last summer, recalls state Rep. Harry Readshaw (D-Carrick), “I stood up and asked, ‘Is there any way that we can stop or alter this…
Out for Equality
Residents, activists, politicians rally in preparation for battle with county over anti-discrimination legislation
Dinette
Fresh, innovative pizzas mark this new California-inspired kitchen.
This Just In: January 15 – 22
Dispatches from the local TV news: Dog wash has Dave Crawley in a lather.
CP Remixed returns for second installment, curated by Girl Talk
Girl Talk selected three musical performers or groups and a DJ that would make up his local “dream lineup.”
Brooklyn’s Deleted Scenes play MLK Day celebration
The band shows that pleasant polyrhythms can set up a song without veering too far into Graceland territory.
A conversation with singer-songwriter Chuck Prophet
“We all think that our defects make us charming somehow.”
Photographer Martin Weber powerfully documents dreams in troubled societies.
Pathos remains in the gap between the opportunities that we perceive these people to have and the dreams they express.
S&D Polish Deli
A Polish deli in the Strip District provides the tastes of the Old Country.
Playing the Numbers
Say this for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl: The guy knows how to keep himself in the public eye. As noted here yesterday, the mayor has gotten plenty of attention for “changing” his name to “Steelerstahl” prior to this weekend’s AFC Championship. And judging from this LOL-worthy post at the 2 political junkies, apparently Ravenstahl got national…
Local bands gear up for Maximum Who-Phoria
You’ll see exactly zero original members of the band, but likely some of the same primal guitar-smashing, drum-detonating energy of the progenitors.
Savage Love
I’m going to Barack Obama’s inauguration. I’ve spent eight years, one month, one week, and one day waiting for this. (But who’s counting?) However, I am looking for suggestions for a respectful way to protest the participation of Rick Warren. As a lifelong Episcopalian, I really don’t want to engage in an antireligious protest. (FWIW:…
