News flash: Potter to retire, work on Specter campaign
OK, I’m not really quitting to go help Arlen Specter get re-elected. If I were going to work on any politician’s campaign, it would be Pat Toomey’s. (No, really! I would do just about anything to help him win the Republican primary in 2010.) But I am feeling a lilttle left out. As you’ve probably…
Seven Guitars at Pittsburgh Playwrights
August Wilson was never noted for his tight plotting, and as many have observed, Seven Guitars seems desultory even by his standards. This is a play, after all, whose briefer digressions include a recipe for collard greens. Most of the story is just people talking; tensions gather, so the climactic act of violence doesn’t quite…
Back to the Future
Some interesting stuff on KD/PG Sunday Edition (wait — did I just say that?) this week. I was especially interested to watch the in-studio interview with city councilor Bill Peduto and presumptive councilor-to-be Natalia Rudiak. Peduto sounded like a kid for whom Christmas came early. What did it mean that Rudiak had won her May…
MP3 Monday: Maddie Georgi
This week’s MP3 (holiday) Monday is a track by local country/pop crossover songstress Maddie Georgi, a young lady with major potential whom our Manny Theiner wrote up a couple months back. Maddie’s got a new EP to be released in a show this Friday, May 29, at Hard Rock Cafe — she’s also got a…
Following the money in district 4
In a discussion that followed from a post I wrote a couple days back, a commenter asked about how much money had flowed into the district 4 race from outside sources. There have been some questions circulating about just how much money the race’s winner, Natalia Rudiak, was getting from outside the district. It seemed…
Short List: May 21 – 28
Spring Awakening is the rock musical that’s not a “rock musical.” It’s an apt second life for an infamously repressed and later heavily censored play about infamously repressed and heavily censored adolescent sexuality in 19th-century Germany. The show hit Broadway in 2006, with playwright Frank Wedekind’s 1891 work adapted by playwright Steven Sater, with music…
Fairs, Festivals and Special Events
Through November Citiparks farmers’ markets. Conveniently located in East Liberty, South Side, Bloomfield, Carrick, City-County Building and North Side. 412-422-6523 or www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/parks. Eat well; eat local. May 24 Animal Friends Mutt Strut. Riverfront Park, North Side. Games, activities and pooches. 412-847-7000 or www.thinkingoutsidethecage.org May 25 Memorial Day Celebration. Soldiers and Sailors Hall, Oakland.…
Kids
ONGOING 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. Library branches offer activities all summer long, ranging from story hours to Guitar Hero and Wii nights for various age groups. Call your local branch,…
Outdoors
ONGOING BIG LEAGUE SPORTS Organized programs for kids include baseball, softball, soccer, flag football, and track and field. 412-488-8585 or www.citiparks.net. BIKE PITTSBURGH This cycling advocacy group sponsors a series of group rides and other events throughout the summer. 412-325-4334 or www.bike-pgh.org. CRITICAL MASS BIKE RIDE Group bike ride through the city. Last Friday of…
Plays & More
Ongoing Cash on Delivery. British playwright Michael Cooney’s comedy about a con on the dole, through May 23 (Comtra). Four Dogs and a Bone. A dark comedy about the movie industry, by John Patrick Shanley (Doubt), through May 22 (Off the Wall). Ice Glen. Joan Ackerman’s literary romance, set in the Berkshires in 1918, through…
Art & Exhibits
ONGOING 15 Minutes Gallery, Art, Man and Technology (art by Steve Kilbey), through June 1. 707 Penn Gallery. On This, The Land (works by Michael Ninehouser), through May 22. 709 Penn Gallery. Immersion (installation by Brazilian filmmaker Adriana Babinski), through May 23. Bella Arte. Landscapes & Florals (oil paintings by Leo Goode), through June 13.…
Summer Films
This could be a much quieter summer at the movies. Based on an unscientific assessment, there appear to be not only fewer films opening, but among them, fewer explosions and less wall-to-wall action. But popcorn vendors can relax: The season has some big-name guests — Harry Potter, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and Brüno — whose…
Summer Guide Music Listings
MAY 20 Third Eye Blind. Palace Theatre Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, Dead Rock West. Thunderbird Café Tally Hall, Malbec, Crocodiles. Mr. Small’s Sourvein. Howlers Qualms, Token Black Guy, The Fitt. Smiling Moose Thinguma*jigSaw. Morning Glory MAY 21 Amber Pacific, Farewell, Fight Fair, Houston Calls, Call to Attraction. Diesel Strange Design (Phish tribute). Club…
Summer Concert Roundup
As summer rolls around, many are feeling the financial pinch, and opting for the tent over the resort. We encourage you not to skimp on the music, though — mainly because there’s no need. The summer concert season offers loads of free, quality entertainment, and other ways to get a lot of bang for your…
Taking a Dive
Entertainment ideas that promise to hold water this season
Allen Ginsberg comes to Pittsburgh
Newman’s poems about nights in dank taverns and rented rooms are smart, funny and moving.
Keep
Norman, sentimental in a good way, does often conjure deep feeling.
Outer Borough
There’s a sense of life passing, humans on the tide, adrift and buffetted in a giant world.
Isabela on Grandview
A fine view — and fine dining — make this Grandview eatery a doubly worthy stop.
Lemon Tree
In Eran Riklis’ modest drama, Salma (Hiam Abbass) is a middle-aged Palestinian widow living alone on the green line between Israel and the West Bank. She quietly ekes out a living from her family’s small lemon grove. Then, the new Israeli Minister of Defense moves next door. The leafy trees are deemed a security risk,…
Sugar
Sugar, a young aspiring baseball pitcher from the Dominican Republic, makes the cut to play single-A ball in Iowa. But Sugar, who doesn’t speak English, finds the Midwest to be baffling, and the climb up the baseball ladder to be frustrating. It’s fair to say that Sugar – from the writer-director team of Anna Boden…
Hunger
This account of a hunger strike undertaken by IRA member Bobby Sands in 1981 is the debut feature of Steve McQueen, a young, award-winning British visual artist. McQueen clearly tilts more toward art than documentary, yet his work is no less powerful for it. The 96-minute Hunger is divided into three distinct sections. The first,…
This Just In: May 21 – 28
Highlights from the local TV news: A story for losers.
Disease Control
Feds, state pony up to find out why bat colonies are dying
Eating Park?
Some on Mount Washington worry that a new hotel will take up precious green space
Singer-songwriter Kevin Finn releases new album as Thirteenth Rune
“I’m always trying to change my niche a little bit; it’s kinda like changing the furniture in your room.”
Mexico City Mash-Up
Avocados and secret spices make a sublime side dish at this Downtown Mexican eatery.
Ice Glen
The story is simple and there’s considerable dramatic integrity behind it — but the dialogue, if lush, is quite stilted, and the characters teeter on the edge of caricature.
Four Dogs and a Bone
Under the direction of Linda Haston, the acting and comic timing of this Off the Wall production are superb.
Speak American
Simonson does not portray it with nostalgia.
The Dream Intended releases thematic, hooky pop-punk album
For hooks, guitar tone, and a general sense of devil-may-care pop fun, The Dream Intended gets high marks.
Conspiracy Theories
Was the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette behind a Texas radio host’s eradication from YouTube?
Local band The Incline releases album of sunny, vocals-oriented pop
The song “George Foreman” amounts to a novelty song about the eponymous fat-reducing grilling machine.
John Wicks resurrects the exultant power-pop of The Records
Wicks recruited a backing band a few years ago, and he’s been reprising the Records’ timeless classics, while mixing in several of his own more contemporary tracks.
Pittsburgh’s Complete Failure aims for DIY success with sophomore release
“We use speed, and effects in the vein of Neurosis, to convey a certain atmosphere, which is partly about rage — being very angry and lashing out in an uncontrollable way.”
Privacy Rites
Are we ready for online disclosure?
Savage Love
Dear Readers: I regard this column as a sacred tryst. Your willingness to take me into your confidence moves and humbles me, and the seriousness with which I approach my chosen profession would normally prevent me from turning your letters over to a bunch of unruly drunks. But word somehow got around the bar where…
District 2: How the west was won
A few thoughts about district 2, where the action was a lot less dramatic than in district 4. So this post will be less dramatic than my previous one as well. (And yes, I realize that’s saying something.) The district 2 primary, of course, is a reprise of a special election earlier this year. The…
Australian rocker Steve Kilbey says he doesn’t know what he’s doing with his visual art — and sometimes, that’s a good thing.
The best paintings here reveal influences that, like Kilbey himself, originate outside the academy.
