Nominee for public safety director ready to take on police bureau challenges
Mayor Bill Peduto introduces new City Public Safety Director Stephen Bucar
Street-dance group a hit at the arts fest
Unbooked Breakatronz, from New York, performs unannounced sets
Lynn Cullen Live 06/10/14
Video Archive Guests: Susan & Bill!; Benghazi & Bergdahl; Republicans & domestic terrorism; sensual encounters with dolphins; what does “brake retardation” mean?; life is getting less fair; UPMC horror story; Pittsburgh on front page of WSJ for our city steps; Callers: Lori / PJ, Greensburg. Audio Only Archive
Complaints Choir Performs Nightly at the Arts Fest
At City-County Building portico tonight, Katz Plaza tomorrow
Protesters shout down Tom Corbett, Chris Christie at Primanti’s campaign stop
Photo by Charlie Deitch More than three-dozen protesters showed up to a Gov. Tom Corbett campaign stop this afternoon with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The Protesters arrived shortly after 3 p.m. and lined up across the street from Primanti Brothers’ Strip District location on 18th Street. They attempted to greet the governor as he…
County Dems chair takes shot at Corbett, Christie
We’re still about 90 minutes away from Gov. Tom Corbett’s ballyhooed campaign stump at Primanti Brothers with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, but Allegheny County Democratic Chair Nancy Patton Mills is getting her jabs in early. In a press release entitled: “TONE-DEAF TOM BRINGS WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS BRIDGE CLOSER TO THE CITY OF BRIDGES,” Mills…
UPDATED: ‘Your Wife is Hot’ bus ads appear
Yesterday, Twitter noticed a new set of ads on Port Authority buses. And the jokes started rolling in. Followed by speculation. Which turned out to be….correct. Port Authority spokesman Jim Ritchie confirms the ad is for “Sullivan Air Conditioning” and “another ad currently running says it’s time to update your air conditioning.” He didn’t immediately…
Tyler, The Creator commands crowd at Stage AE
“Sup, assholes?” That’s the greeting rapper Tyler, The Creator gave the crowd at Stage AE last night. After a delayed start, Tyler, clad in a snapback hat, tiger-striped golf shirt and shorts, came out during the set of DJ Taco, the opener and member of Tyler’s rap group/collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All,…
Fate of Mt. Washington dog park remains unclear
After being closed for almost two months, a dog park in Mt. Washington will be reopened this Saturday June 7, despite the controversy still surrounding it. The park was closed April 16 for maintenance and was originally set to reopen May 9. However, at a public meeting where residents met with city officials to discuss…
Wolf to get SEIU endorsement Friday
Photo by Charlie Deitch Tom Wolf Tom Wolf will big up his first big post-Primary endorsement Friday morning when he receives the backing of the Pennsylvania State Council of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The announcement will take place at 10:30 a.m. in Philadelphia when “Plans will be announced to devote significant resources to…
Zoning Board grants continuance for Friendship AutoZone development
In a meeting that lasted just a few minutes, the Zoning Board of Adjustment granted neighborhood groups’ request to postpone a hearing until July on a development plan that calls for building an AutoZone at Penn and Negley aves. The neighborhood groups argued there had been “no opportunity” for community members to be informed about…
An Extended interview with comedian Erin Foley
In this week’s City Paper, I interview comedian Erin Foley who will appear this Friday at Cruze Bar, 1600 Smallman Street in the strip. Below is an extended version of the interview which includes more of Erin’s thoughts on standup comedy, the New York Giants and the drafting of the NFL’s first openly-gay player. Erin…
After Dormont officials object, Hollywood Theater cancels Dan Savage-curated “Hump” festival
The Hump Tour, a festival of independently made dirty movies curated by sex columnist Dan Savage, has been touring cities in the U.S. and Canada. But despite initial plans, the festival will not be appearing at Dormont’s Hollywood Theater, because of objections from borough officials. Robert Crocker, executive director of the Hump Tour, says that…
Doug Shields returns to council as ‘consultant’ for Darlene Harris
City Paper File Photo Doug Shields Doug Shields is back in the halls of City Council. The nearly 20-year veteran of city politics — as a longtime council aide to late-Mayor Bob O’Connor and as a city councilor himself — returned today as a consultant for City Councilor Darlene Harris. His first order of business?…
Corbett picks up 2nd labor endorsement, trails Wolf by 20 points in latest poll
Tom Corbett has secured his second labor endorsement of the 2014 General election, this time from the Allegheny County’s Boilermakers Local 154. He received the endorsement of the Laborer’s District Council of Western Pennsylvania last month. “Since taking office, Governor Tom Corbett has kept his promise to fight for Pennsylvania jobs, making our Commonwealth stronger…
Old 97’s return to Mr. Small’s
Old 97’s Old 97’s are back in the saddle again, and they will ride into Mr. Small’s tonight. The alt-country band led by Rhett Miller has been around since the early ’90s. With the release of Most Messed Up, their latest album, Old 97’s have released 10 studio album and a handful of EPs since…
Maleficent
The best thing about Robert Stromberg’s Maleficent, a re-telling of Disney’s 1959 Sleeping Beauty from the point of view of its titular villainess, is Angelina Jolie’s seriously fierce drag. As Maleficent, Jolie sports: contacts that make her eyes look like gemstones; blood red lips; razor-sharp cheekbones; a figure-flattering, fur-trimmed cape; and a sleek skull cap…
Food, firemen and Farm Kings help kick off Bloomfield’s new Saturday market
A group of bagpipers seemed an odd choice to kick off the new Bloomfield Saturday Market, but the mournful tunes hardly kept the crowds away. Held in a parking lot on Liberty Avenue, the market is an initiative of the Bloomfield Development Corp., and offers a farmers-market-plus. Besides food and produce vendors, there were: a…
For No Good Reason
British illustrator, political cartoonist and provocateur Ralph Steadman seems like an interesting guy. His artistic career is in its fifth decade, and he seems to have achieved his goal of using his provocative drawings “as a weapon, [that] people would see and think about,” and made a good living doing so. I say “seems,” because…
A Million Ways to Die in the West
If you have an unlimited capacity for played-out jokes about poop and sex acts (there’s a BJ gag in the first scene), witless send-ups of stereotypes and Western-film tropes, and Seth MacFarlane’s “acting,” then you may enjoy this overly long trip to Old Stump, Old West. Everybody else may simply be thinking of a million…
Why we get who we get at the Arts Festival
DOLLAR BANK THREE RIVERS ARTS FESTIVAL. Fri., June 6-June 15. Point State Park, Downtown. Free. www.3riversartsfest.org Pittsburghers know it’s traditional to get a few windy thunderstorms just in time for the kickoff of the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival in early June each year. Customary, too, is the storm of public opinion that sweeps…
Poliça’s Channy Leaneagh looks for meaning beyond the hype
POLIÇA with REPUTANTE. 7 p.m. Tue., June 10. Mr. Small’s Theatre, 400 Lincoln Ave. Millvale. $15. All ages. 412-821-4447 or www.mrsmalls.com Rolling Stone once called Poliça “America’s Portishead,” and in some ways, that’s not such a bad comparison. There are the haunting female vocals, downtempo beats and lyrics that brim with distress and heartache: check,…
Mountain Top Music Festival brings indie rock to Mount Washington
MOUNTAIN TOP MUSIC FESTIVAL with COLD FRONTS, KEVIN GARRETT, WHITE LIKE FIRE, GYPSY AND HIS BAND OF GHOSTS and more. 1 p.m. Sun., June 8 . Grandview Park, 499 Bailey Ave., Mount Washington. Suggested donation $10. Search “Mountain Top Music Festival” on Facebook. Back when he lived nearby, in the summer of 2012, Max Kovalchuk…
Critics’ Picks: June 5 – 11
[PUNK] + THU., JUNE 5 Two years ago, Scranton punks The Menzingers were playing a packed and sweaty Mr. Roboto Project. Now, the band has released its fourth full-length, Rented World, which debuted at No. 49 on the Billboard 200 chart. Rented World continues to fine-tune The Menzingers’ sound: punk yet accessible. This isn’t Black…
New Releases
Christian Beck Wreck My Train (Self-released) Full album of pop-country from the local singer, who’s just 20. Some nods to John Prine and Willie Nelson in the opening track belie what’s mostly a rock record, with country themes — that’s what country radio today is, though. “My House” starts out sounding like “Turn the Page,”…
“Community schools” advocates say schools can stay open … by opening their doors
At a time when most of the news coming out of the Pittsburgh Public Schools involves cutting services and closing schools, one coalition is pushing to expand district services, and keep schools open. Local activists are pushing a “community schools” model, which opens school buildings up to house social services used by children and their…
Residents worry a proposed AutoZone on high-profile Babyland site could jeopardize neighborhood rebound
For 61 years, Babyland’s powder-blue façade and block letters defined the corner of Penn and Negley avenues. It was a city landmark long before anyone dreamed that, a few blocks away, Penn would become an arts corridor, or that East Liberty’s business district — just down the street — would attract new bars and restaurants.…
Matthew Ferrence discusses his book All-American Redneck
Struggling for a subject for his dissertation in English literature, Matthew Ferrence found an unlikely inspiration: Larry the Cable Guy. A neighbor in Morgantown invited Ferrence, a Ph.D. candidate at West Virginia University, to watch the sleeveless comedian’s routine on DVD. Finding it “racist,” “sexist” and “problematically bad,” Ferrence set out to explore why the…
Academic Dispute
It’s hard to know what Pittsburgh would make of Andrew Carnegie today … and not just because of the union-busting, or the fact that his steel mills would obstruct the use of riverfront trails. This was a guy who didn’t like football. “[T]o me, the spectacle of educated young men rolling over one another in…
Erin Foley on comedy, sports and Pittsburgh Pride.
ILAUGH PRIDE EDITION FEATURING ERIN FOLEY 7:30 p.m. Fri., June 6. Cruze Bar, 1600 Smallman St., Strip District. $20-25. 412-471-1400 or www.cruzebar.com Erin Foley’s comedy career is going pretty well. She’s performed on stages across the country, appeared in movies and TV shows, has her own sports podcast — Sports Without Balls — and last…
Savage Love
A few months ago, I started getting hang-up calls from numbers I didn’t recognize. Then weird texts started showing up, trying to set up “dates.” After the fourth or fifth call/text, Google informed me that my phone number is identical, except for area code, to a trans escort. I’m getting one or two calls or…
Singin’ in the Rain at Pittsburgh CLO
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN continues through Sun., June 8. Benedum Center, 719 Liberty Ave, Downtown. $10-65. 412-456-6666 or www.pittsburghclo.org “All singin’, all dancin’, all splashin’!” is my description of CLO’s Singin’ in the Rain, the stage-musical version of the MGM classic about the birth of the Hollywood talkie. All splashin’? Yes, indeed: There’s a thunderstorm happening…
Short List: June 6 – 11
FREE EVENT: Fri., June 6 — Festival International art and, well, air are emergent themes at this year’s Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival. The free, 10-day Pittsburgh Cultural Trust event fills Point State Park and much of Downtown with visual art, live music and performances of all kinds (not forgetting the Artist Market or…
Pittsburgh CLO’s Ring of Fire
RING OF FIRE: THE MUSIC OF JOHNNY CASH continues through Aug. 17. Pittsburgh CLO Cabaret, 655 Penn Ave., Downtown. $39.75. 412-456-6666 or www.pittsburghclo.org I walk the line, debating whether Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash is really bad … or really, really bad. The show’s cast, four men and one woman, sing Johnny’s songs and aren’t supposed to imitate him. But…
Yes, Yes, Yes
I was in the garden of the world, in the middle of a matrix of all things luminescent and essential a Technicolor whale body of sorts … and Yes, healed me, caressed me Yes opened up like a portfolio of compelling art, like handsome lightning, laughing Degas, blue plastic shopping bags crammed with blessings and…
OJO is Bricolage’s latest excursion into immersive theater
OJO Sat., June 7-15. 820 Liberty Ave. Downtown. Free. The show is sold out; for “standby” option, see www.bricolagepgh.org. Most people spend their lives striving for certainty. Not so with artists, says Jeffrey Carpenter, artistic director of Bricolage Productions. Asked by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust to produce an immersive theater work for the Three Rivers…
Impressionz
Impressionz 6008 Broad St., East Liberty. 412-362-7134 Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Prices: Sides and meat or veggie patties, $2.50-5; entrees $10-18 Liquor: BYOB From hole-in-the-wall to haute cuisine, restaurants inhabit a broad spectrum of formality, but almost all of them cultivate an atmosphere. And while decor goes a long way…
Locke
Locke Directed: by Steven Knight Starring: Tom Hardy AMC Loews; also, 7 p.m. Sun., June 8-Wed., June 11, at Oaks In Steven Knight’s drama Locke, a man named Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) leaves a construction site, gets in his BMW and drives into the night. He sets his mobile phone into the hands-free console, and…
Wigle Whiskey expands to North Side with new barrelhouse
Wigle Whiskey is growing … again. With an expanding team of employees and staff, as well as a continuing parade of new products — including an aged ginever, various whiskeys and some soon-to-be-announced releases — the owners decided they’d outgrown the distillery’s Smallman Street home. And a new north-of-the-rivers facility, Wigle’s Whiskey Garden and Barrelhouse,…
Health Department Starts Considering Climate Change
Experts warn of health effects of climate change
