Disability Rights Network to host advocacy training
The Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania will host a free workshop for disability advocacy groups on social media in late January. The event, entitled Social Media 101, will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Tue., Jan. 29. To register for this workshop or for more information, visit the DRN’s website for the training…
Protest tomorrow at Sen. Casey’s office
Tomorrow, members of Working America will head to Sen. Bob Casey’s Downtown office and present their “wish list” for the holidays. The list, according to a press release from the organization, will show “what community members want to see our country invest in instead of extending the Bush Tax Cuts for the richest 2%.” The…
Police seeking driver in hit-and-run
Pittsburgh Police are looking for a vehicle involved in a hit-and-run with a pedestrian in Oakland early Friday morning. A 59-year-old woman was struck in the 3600 block of Bates Street around 6:45 a.m. Friday. She remains in critical condition, according to police. Police say they are looking for a light colored, full size sedan.…
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Dec. 18
Apologies for yesterday’s hiatus here: Your Heads Up correspondent has been under the weather, and also finding it a little difficult to wrap his head around the Sandy Hook shootings. Here’s a look at how others around the state are trying to address that horror: In the Philadelphia area, some legislators are responding to the…
Lynn Cullen Live 12/18/12
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; some schools want to arm their teachers; teachers painted as heroes now, but before the election Repubs weren’t shedding kind light on them; freedom in this country = guns; you think you know the 2nd amendment?; militia clauses; NRA coup in 1977; NRA social media still down; guns don’t kill…
Meeting tonight on Thunderbird expansion in Lawrenceville
A meeting tonight will address the possible expansion of the music venue.
Rick Sebak at The Toonseum on Saturday
Filmmaker marks release of “25 Things I Like About Pittsburgh”
Gesture of grief
A sign on a Strip District business expresses grief at recent tragedies.
Lynn Cullen Live 12/17/12
Video Archive Connecticut school shooting; Obama’s speech last night; people standing up against the NRA; Bill of Rights definition of “arms” — a lot different then than now; 40 school shootings since Columbine & we’ve liberalized gun laws; mothers need to step forward; children being interviewed by media; we are failing at protecting our children;…
Grow Pittsburgh to offer courses on organic gardening
Grow Pittsburgh will offer a three-part course on organic vegetable gardening in January, February and March. The class, entitled “A Garden Primer,” will cover all the basics — from tools, where and what to plant and how/when to harvest, no matter the size of the space you have within to plant. All classes will take…
“South Side Stories” gets extended run
Tami Dixon’s hit one-woman show at City Theatre earns another week of performances, in January. More in Program Notes.
“South Side Stories” gets extended run
One-woman show earns additional week of performances in January
Metcalfe v. marriage, again
Republican State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, the pride of Cranberry, has announced he will pursue legislation that will define marriage as between a man and a woman in the state’s constitution, again. In a memorandum sent to House members yesterday, Metcalfe said his constitutional amendment will “eliminate confusion as to what constitutes a legal marriage, and…
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Dec. 14
Bill Peduto announces his campaign for mayor? Wow, who saw THAT coming? Oh, right: everyone. Later today, I’ll have transcriptions of Peduto’s speech, as well as some of his give-and-take with reporters. For now, suffice it to say that based on the cross-section of supporters in attendance, this is no longer just the Knowledge Workers’…
Lynn Cullen Live 12/14/12
Video Archive Reasons behind re-naming the 16th St. Bridge; Barbara Walters asks Obama about legalizing marijuana; Bill Peduto, Michael Lamb running for mayor; Susan Rice withdraws from Secretary of State contest; Republican governor wants to see over the counter birth control; take your gun to work day; commercials have to be the same audio levels…
Opportunity: task force looking at city’s nonprofits seeks members
The city is accepting applications for a new task force that will look at whether nonprofits should pay local taxes and if so, how much. The deadline to apply is Dec. 21.
Pittsburgh Dad Meet ‘n’ Greet ‘n’at
Meet “Pittsburgh Dad” Saturday, at free meet-n-greet at Monroeville Mall
Report: P-G editor in running for Boston Globe post
According to the alt-weekly Boston Phoenix, David Shribman, the executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is likely a top candidate to become the next editor of the Boston Globe. Shribman declined to comment on the report — which was picked up by media-blogger Jim Romenesko — except to say that he discouraged such speculation. The…
DVE Christmas Party at Diesel Tonight
Show benefits Children’s Hospital
Recap: Wiz Khalifa & Taylor Gang’s The 2050 Tour
Review of Wiz Khalifa’s 2050 Tour stop at Consol Energy Center.
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Dec. 13
Story of the day: City council held a brutal extended session yesterday, one in which councilors haggled over pension deals in the past, and development deals in the future. Hanging over all of it was Bill Peduto’s plan to announce his candidacy for mayor tonight. Just to give you an idea: Ricky Burgess likened Peduto…
Lynn Cullen Live 12/13/12
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski; Bible story of Lot & his daughters; Dr. Seuss-esque political rant; Indian nurse who committed suicide after prank; Americans are shameless; Americans & identity; Shahs of Sunset; places that have changed their name over time; Hurricane Sandy concert; Rolling Stones look like the California Raisins; Persian Empire; right-wingers STILL ranting…
You Can’t HANDLE the Truth: OMG, Obama is (finally!) coming for our guns!
I’m sitting here waiting for what is likely to be an ugly city council debate on the future of the Buncher Company’s property in the Strip District. So before we launch into that snakepit, howsabout a bit of discourse that will seem mild by comparison: Tea Party ravings about the war on guns! For –…
Our Rapper-Lovin’ Politicians
Today, as I’m sure you’ve heard, has been declared Wiz Khalifa Day by Pittsburgh City Council. It’s as good an excuse as any to run this photo of some of favorite street art from a while back: a tweaked city trash can, celebrating another Pittsburgh politician swooning for another marijuana-soaked rapper.
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Dec. 12
It was a red-letter day, so to speak, in city council, with councilors passing a bill to shame property owners who contribute to blight. But the larger story, it seemed, was the fact that council also passed a proclamation honoring Pittsburgh-raised Wiz Khalifa. Maybe I’m just getting old, but stories like this always bore me,…
Fashion and music combine at Mr. Small’s
CLAUDE VONSTROKE with BUKU and GUSTO plus art show and fashion show. 7 p.m. Sat., Dec. 15. Mr. Small’s Theatre 400 Lincoln Ave. Millvale. $20. 18 and up. 412-821-4447 or facebook.com/obviouspgh Pittsburgh isn’t known as the most fashion-forward city. Last year, GQ panned our general style, using the phrase “game-day casual.” We have a fashion…
A writer’s blog is built around his rejection letters.
It happens that while I’m reading Ernesto Barbieri’s blog Letters of Rejection — an annotated anthology of the horror-fiction writer’s correspondence with various literary editors — I receive a rejection letter myself. Only it’s an automated email from an online publication that makes the ones Barbieri scans onto his site appear quaint, archaic or, as…
CD Reviews
Supervoid Endless Planets EP (Self-released) For many bands, a two-song release is considered a single, but for Supervoid, it’s a 16-minute-plus EP. The stoner-y rock band’s debut is heavy and epic, with strong, clean vocals countered by screaming growls. Track 2, “Wake of the Smoke Jumper,” is the heavier of the songs, and the more…
Point Park Conservatory’s The Crucible
THE CRUCIBLE continues through Sun., Dec. 16. Pittsburgh Playhouse 222 Craft Ave. Oakland. $18-20. 412-392-8000 or pittsburghplayhouse.com I’ve seen innumerable productions of The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s drama in which the Salem witch trials of 1692 serve as a political allegory for the 1950s Red Scare. Still, I chose to review Point Park University’s Conservatory Theatre…
Critics’ Picks: December 12 – 18
[INDIE FOLK] + FRI., DEC. 14 Nathan Xander hangs his hat in Brooklyn now, but hails originally from northwestern Pennsylvania, and spent time in Pittsburgh. The folk-rocker also spent time on the Deep Elm label, but his most recent is self-released and self-titled — not to mention honest, refreshing and catchy. His writing is unconventional…
A dance troupe looks at how service workers like flight attendants manage emotionally.
idiosynCrazy Productions performs PRIVATE PLACES 8 p.m. Fri., Dec. 14, and 8 p.m. Sat., Dec. 15. The Alloy Studios 5530 Penn Ave. Friendship. $15-35. 412-363-3000 or kelly-strayhorn.org. In 2010, a JetBlue flight attendant who had argued with a passenger got fed up with his job, grabbed a beer, deployed the emergency slide and exited the…
Breaking the Cycle: Due to growing pains or growing tensions, 2012 was a dangerous year for the city’s cycling community
As the knife came toward him, Colin Albright hoisted his bicycle toward his attacker. On the desolate South Side steps at 11 p.m. on Sept. 5, Albright thought that’s what the man was after. “I said, ‘Dude, take the fucking bike,'” Albright says. “I thought it was some cheap street robber.” But it wasn’t. The…
Hitchcock
Hitchcock Directed by: Sacha Gervasi Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson Starts Fri., Dec. 14 How the influential horror-thriller Psycho — and its indelible association with its director, Alfred Hitchcock — came to be is the subject of Sacha Gervasi’s flawed but entertaining behind-the-scenes bauble, Hitchcock. In 1959, Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) is living in…
Traffic Control: Pittsburgh Police try to mediate rage between cyclists and motorists
Christine Scalise might be one of the most noticeable cyclists on the road. A bike officer for the past 13 years, she has never been in a wreck with a vehicle. She admits that she’s pretty easy to notice — “the uniform is highly visible and we’re carrying a gun,” she says. But despite her…
Spirited Debate
There he was, appearing before Pittsburgh City Council just in time for the holidays — like something out of a Dickens story. Tom Murphy, the Ghost of Pittsburgh Past. Since leaving office in 2005, the silver-haired Murphy had scarcely been seen in the City-County Building prior to Dec. 5. But Pittsburgh City Councilor Patrick Dowd…
Reborn
A man in a green mask asks me to count backwards from one hundred. At ninety-eight the table begins to spin; I feel as if I’m being swallowed by the light that hangs above me like giant insect eyes. Ican mark time by the surgeries; the way my grandmother marked my growth with pencil slashes…
Raising the Roof
Sharon Daniels looks tired. She sits on the last step of her stairway, in the house where she grew up. Three teen-agers slouch in her leather couch; a fourth sits in the easy chair. Daniels’ living room is quiet. The sun has faded behind the curtains, and rain sprinkles outside. The way Daniels describes it,…
Savage Love
At a dinner party, a straight man put a question to my boyfriend and me. He assumed that we, being gay men, would have an answer. We did not. So what happens to one if one has to fart while one is wearing a butt plug? Gays Are Simply Stumped, Yes And Sincerely So If…
Short List: December 12 – 18
SPOTLIGHT: Thu., Dec. 20 — Comedy Comedy is now his job, and Aaron Kleiber is OK with that. In December 2008, the aspiring actor did his first open mic. Within two years, the former Steel Valley High School class clown was being featured at the Pittsburgh Improv. Today, Kleiber, 31, practices his high-energy standup “six…
Bridge Ten Brasserie
Bridge Ten Brasserie 20 S. 10th St. South Side. 412-586-5033 Hours: Mon. 4:30-10 p.m.; Tue.-Thu. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Prices: Appetizers, salads and sandwiches $7-20; entrees $21-28 Liquor: Full bar During the past decade, restaurants in Pittsburgh have reflected a broader trend in American dining: the glorification of the humble. The same…
Sweet City: Gingerbread Lane is product of chef’s year-long passion
Some people do yoga. Some meditate. Chef Jon Lovitch bakes gingerbread houses after especially stressful days at work. “When I come home at the end of the day, I whip up a bowl of icing,” says the 36-year-old consultant for the hotel industry. “By the time I’m stressed out over the gingerbread house, I’ll have…
Wigle Whiskey introduces small-barrel aging
For the past year, if you wanted a taste of aged Wigle Whiskey, you had to take matters into your own hands: by aging the distillery’s white whiskeys in novelty-sized barrels. No longer: This week, the Strip District distillery releases its first three batches of house-aged whiskey. The whiskeys spent six months in 10-gallon barrels,…
Everything Is Terrible! brings the twisted holiday-video fun
Everything Is Terrible! 8 p.m. Sun., Dec. 16. Melwood. $10. pghfilmmakers.org For those already burnt out on the holidays, recommending that you deeply immerse yourself in a dense hour of compiled holiday film and video clips seems counterintuitive. But holiday-haters, war-on-Christmas soldiers and those who simply cannot stomach another sappy Lifetime movie about finding love…
A Mercer County farm works to raise healthier, happier pigs
Shawn Temple still farms the Fredonia, Pa., spread that his great-grandparents, Fred and Mary Vernon, bought in the 1920s. And the 158-acre Temple Family Farm still uses the same techniques, raising pork “from farrow to finish” — from birth to slaughter — and allowing pigs and cattle alike to spend most of their lives outdoors.…
Pujol provides pedagogical punk rock
PUJOL with NIC LAWLESS, WHITE LIKE FIRE. Friday’s Pujol show at Club Cafe has been postponed due to an illness in the band. No rescheduled date has been announced yet. Plenty of musicians seek part-time jobs when they’re making a go of it, so that when they’re home they can work without being encumbered by…
Lynn Cullen Live 12/12/12
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; The Pope has tweeted!; Wiz Khalifa day in Pittsburgh & those who don’t approve; 10 worst buildings printed w/ contact info, trying to shame the owners into fixing them; Obit: Ravi Shankar; Michigan signs Right to Work bill into law; Democrats need to educate voters; one-term Toomey; still avoiding the…
Jazz goes Dutch
ERIC VLOEIMANS, FLORIAN WEBER and KINAN AZMEH. 8 p.m. Wed., Dec. 19. First Unitarian Church 605 Morewood Ave. Shadyside. $10-15. 412-361-2262 Eric Vloeimans plays trumpet with such a warm, smooth tone that when he begins a piece in the horn’s lower register, it almost sounds more like a flute than a brass instrument. “Smooth,” in…
Two exhibits take divergent paths to exploring the material culture of our latter centuries.
THE CITY & THE CITY continues through Dec. 31. Wood Street Galleries 601 Wood St. Downtown. 412-471-5605 or woodstreetgalleries.org INVENTING THE MODERN WORLD continues through Feb. 24. Carnegie Museum of Art 4400 Forbes Ave. Oakland. 412-622-3131 or cmoa.org Inventing the Modern World is the ambitious decorative-arts show at the Carnegie, but its title might just…
