barebones productions’ Killer Joe
This early play by Tracy Letts is, at first glance, a little immorality tale, set in a nest of scoundrels. The plot’s shoved into motion by a young man cold-hearted enough to want his own mother killed, but not bold-hearted enough to do the job himself. In that sense, the play harks to film noir…
Council debates for hours, misses point entirely
If you’re among the handful of people paying attention to the Great Review Board Saga, you probably know that council voted to delay a vote on replacing five out of seven new members to the Citizens Police Review Board. For the most part, though, council spent its day arguing over trivia, while the real issue…
Ted Leo postponed (again), rescheduled for September
Bad news: as happened a little over a year ago, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists had to postpone a show at Diesel this week. The show, which was to be this Friday, was called because, as the prolific tweeter explained Sunday, there was a death in Leo’s family and he has to attend to that…
Exit Through the Gift Shop
If you’ve seen this brilliant film about street art — or even if you haven’t — there’s something provocative to consider in the opening montage. The film, credited to famed British street artist Banksy, is mostly about work like the kind he does: Witty, boundary-breaking stuff, as often as not painted or posted on blank…
The Unemployment Show
David English is not unemployed, but he used to be. And once a month, he likes to talk about it. A Garfield resident, English studied puppetry at West Virginia University. Now, at 32, he hosts a comedic, late-night, live-streaming talk show about lay-offs, life behind a desk, and that pesky dissonance between seeking a job…
Ponying Up
The state’s horse-racing industry, and riders like Dave Palone, were early winners when the state expanded gambling. But will the industry fade down the stretch?
Short List: Week of July 1 – 8
During the Great Depression, photographers working for the federal Farm Services Administration shot about 145,000 documentary images of American life; nearly half were “killed” by project director Roy Stryker, who punched big holes right into the negatives. Yet photos printed from the negs are weirdly compelling: It’s as though, for instance, a cannon ball has…
Grown Ups
Here are five guys I’d rather not know: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider. Because if they think this movie is funny – and admittedly, they at least look like they’re having fun making it – then we have nothing in common. In Dennis Dugan’s PG-rated comedy, these five play…
I Am Love
In Luca Guadagnino’s film set among the wealthy of Milan, a middle-aged woman, Emma Recchi (Tilda Swinton), begins an affair with her grown son’s chef friend. The dalliance proves to be the last straw that leads to the dissolution of the extended Recchi family. I am Love isn’t a talky, lots-of-plot kind of melodrama. It…
E2
A sophisticated, yet casual, cure for the weekend brunch blues
Killer Joe
Director Kim Martin, with the help of fight choreographer Randy Kovitz, leaves no punches — both metaphorical and physical — pulled in this giddily excessive show.
Mad Honey
It’s just an open wound, a lonely howl of a play.
This Just In: July 1 – 8
Highlight from the local TV news: Cereal Offenders
Hot Button
A look at this week’s most intriguing issues — and why you should care
Digging Roots
Project helps African Americans find their family origins
Arena for Debate
Community feelings mixed about fate of Mellon Arena
Sharp Edge Bistro
Belgian beers are the star of this new Downtown bistro.
Singer-songwriter Rebecca Pronsky knows her way around metaphor and story
She can easily remind listeners of Neko Case, both in terms of her ability to belt the lyrics and the way she stands out above the sea of thoughtful women with guitars.
The ever-busy Andrew W.K. headlines this year’s Vans Warped Tour.
When Andrew W.K. was a child, a psychiatrist diagnosed him as having a “devilish side.” Considering how excited he sounds to be blowing stuff up on his new Cartoon Network game show, Destroy Build Destroy, that devilishness is chronic. W.K. hosts the show, in which two teams of teen-agers destroy a vehicle, build a machine…
After a rough patch, Scottish rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks are flying high.
“Traditionally that’s what Scot people are known for, a modesty. Everyone’s fucking miserable.”
Celebrate the Fourth of July on the Mon with Nakturnal’s barge party
“We’re doing this thing called ‘laser graffiti’– it uses a video camera, a computer and a laser beam to project on the side of that huge pier.”
Savage Love
I am a married white guy in my 50s. My wife and I do some role-playing where I am “Ted,” her real-life father. In her script, I yell at my “bad daughter” (my wife) over some infraction and send her to her room. Later on, I sneak in and tell her that she could “make…
English professor-turned-nurse Theresa Brown tells about her first year on the job in Critical Care.
“If I’m a saint and they’re the sickly person, then we’re unequal.”
This “Real George Washington” is still more myth than man.
Here is Washington’s story much as it might have been told in the 18th century, as if the world had never changed.
Casting lots for the city’s lots (UPDATED)
So today comes the totally unsurprising news that, should the city lease off its publically-owned parking garages, prices will go up. Like, a lot. To shore up the city’s pension fund with a cash infusion, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has proposed leasing its garages to a private operator in exchange for an upfront sum. Yesterday, the…
