Coming Home Pennsylvania: The challenges Western PA veterans face returning to civilian life
This week, Pittsburgh City Paper joins other local media, old and new, by taking part in “Coming Home PA,” a joint effort to document the experiences of Western Pennsylvania veterans returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our stories, on veterans becoming more politically engaged, and how the military is contending with sex…
Iron City Sound finalists announced
A little while back, I told you about the contest Iron City was running in which they were soliciting local bands who might want to be “brand ambassadors.” Win the contest, get a lot of moola from I.C. to make your record/video/whatever, rep the brand in your videos and onstage and that sort of thing.…
“Lost Boy” Film Subject to be Honored at Screening
Word came in past CP’s deadline that Point Park University tonight honors one of its more notable recent graduates: Panther Bior, the Sudanese refugee who was among the main subjects of the 2006 documentary God Grew Tired of Us. The film profiles Bior and two other youths who were orphaned by civil war and survived…
New Donora video
In Which We Watch Casey Turn into Max Headroom: (Donora opens for Passion Pit this Saturday at CMU’s Carnival!)
Lynn Cullen Live 04/17/12
Video Archive Guests: Susan & Kathy Newman, CMU professer & Pgh Public School parent; black women & church hats; Donald Driver on DWTS; women & sex: in charge or repressed?; Berlusconi on trial again; more on the Mommy Wars; major cuts in public school budgets; Linden Elementary School bake sale today; Republicans want to destory…
Protesters try to give UPMC its Tax Bill
About 100 protesters marched to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Grant Street headquarters for a lively Tax Day protest of the non-profit’s non-existent tax contribution to city, state and county coffers. We know what would happen to us if we didn’t pay our taxes don’t we?” asked the Rev. David Thorton of the Grace Memorial…
Cross-Country Electric-Bike Tour Hits Pittsburgh Tomorrow
If you want to know more about electric bicycles, here’s the perfect opportunity to ask two people who are becoming intimately acquainted with theirs. Boris Mordkovich, 26, and Anna Mostovetsky, 25, mounted their electric-motor-bearing two-wheelers on April 7, in Brooklyn, and headed south for Washington, D.C. Ultimately, by mid-June they plan to arrive in San…
Lynn Cullen Live 04/16/12
Video Archive Christian Bale shooting new movie in Braddock; Norwegian killer now claiming self-defense; DARPA robot learning to walk & move like a human; Boston Dynamics robot emotes; future of human species; transgendered couple receive subpoena for Pitt bomb threats; Caller: Clarence, Canonsburg; end show early due to studio overheating. Audio Only Archive
Lynn Cullen Live 04/13/12
Video Archive Hot dog stuffed crust pizza & bacon sundaes; word of the day: capias; blogger David Brothers’ take on Trayvon Martin & being a black man in America; Anything Goes; Michelle Obama’s events in Pittsburgh; North Korea’s failed rocket launch; Hilary Rosen, Ann Romney & the mommy wars; our materialistic culture; census fact: 47%…
Thanks to LGBT advocacy, state AG candidate Patrick Murphy gains star power
Pennsylvania Attorney General candidate Patrick Murphy’s appearance in a documentary about the history of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell not only helped draw attention to last year’s repeal of the law, it also likely helped provide a financial kick to his campaign coffers. Among the usual contributions from Pennsylvania residents, attorneys and labor groups, Murphy received…
Carnegie Mellon Laptop Ochestra to Jam Online
The Orchestra joins six other universities in the U.S. and U.K. for a video-chat concert on Mon., April 16. During the joint performance, orchestras in each location will use online audio and video links to hear and respond to their counterparts from thousands of miles away. The Federation of Laptop Orchestras will be directed by…
Lynn Cullen Live 04/12/12
Video Archive National Grilled Cheese Day; George Zimmerman charged with 2nd degree murder; it shouldn’t have to take two months & the whole world to charge a murderer; media likening Trayvon Martin case to OJ Simpson case; student at Pitt questioned, cops asked him to not wear his hood up; Mark Lee Krangle’s threats to…
Cheyenne Marie Mize tonight at Brillobox
Tonight you’re going to watch hockey. It’s OK; I will too. But then, you and I should go see Cheyenne Marie Mize, on tour with local heroes and heroines Donora, at Brillobox. Assuming the Penguins win handily and there’s no extra hockey, it should work perfectly timingwise. To put you in the mood, a video…
Filmmaker Stephen Frears To Visit with “The Queen”
It’s a rare Pittsburgh appearance for the veteran, much-acclaimed British director of My Beautiful Laundrette, The Grifters and High Fidelity. He’s in town with one of his more recent hits. The Queen (2006), starring Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth, is a drama about the public-relations fiasco that followed the 1997 death of Princess Diana. The…
Extended interview: DJ Spooky
This weekend, DJ Spooky performs as part of Alia Musica’s Hear/Now Festival at the Kelly-Strayhorn. The musician, cultural theorist and provocateur took the time to answer a few of my questions via e-mail this week; as a supplement to my story on the festival, here’s the transcript: DJ Spooky Your most recent book, The Book…
Ghost brings a different kind of devotional music from Sweden
GHOST opens for MASTODON, OPETH 6:30 p.m. Sun., April 15. Stage AE 400 North Shore Drive North Side. $29.50-34. All ages. 412-229-5483 or stageae.com If “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” why do we think of devotional art in such black-and-white terms? Most of us dismiss satanic artwork as “devil worship” rather than…
An acclaimed Japanese dancer and choreographer makes his Pittsburgh debut.
KOTA YAMAZAKI/FLUID HUG-HUG perform (glowing) 8 p.m. Sat., April 14. New Hazlett Theater 6 Allegheny Square East North Side. $20-25. 412-237-8300 or warhol.org In a darkened space, the mind can play tricks on you. A barely lit object may appear to be one thing when in fact it is something else. (glowing), the latest dance…
Lynn Cullen Live 04/11/12
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; Lynn’s jury duty & parking court experiences; Santorum on CP cover this week; did Santorum drop out because he couldn’t win PA?; Altmire vs. Critz; Santorum’s Italian ancestors were serious Communists; anti-abortion bills & corrupt judges in Arizona; Santorum’s gracelessness; John Edwards misusing campaign money to pay off a mistress;…
Bully
Bully Directed by: Lee Hirsch Starts Fri., April 13. AMC Loews, Manor The purpose of Lee Hirsch’s documentary Bully is to expose bullying among children and teens, and to call out the mostly ineffectual responses it engenders. Hirsch spent the 2009-10 school year documenting several bullied young people, including a lesbian in Oklahoma, who vows…
Hear/Now Festival brings together local, international names in new music
HEAR/NOW FESTIVAL OF NEW SOUND Starts 6 p.m. Fri., April 13. Continues April 14. Kelly-Strayhorn Theater 5941 Penn Ave. East Liberty. Individual programs: $10-15; festival passes: $35-50. 412-363-3000 or kelly-strayhorn.org Five years ago, Alia Musica, the local new-music ensemble co-founded by Federico Garcia, held its first concert. This weekend, the group ramps up its annual…
The Ceiling Stares return with a new single
THE CEILING STARES 7-INCH RELEASE with The Gotobeds, K-Hun, The Six Acre Lake. 9:30 p.m. Fri., April 13. Brillobox 4104 Penn Ave. Bloomfield. $7. 412-621-4900 or brillobox.net If you haven’t seen The Ceiling Stares lately, you might not recognize them. The local five-piece is now a local four-piece, having parted ways with a drummer and…
CD Reviews
Christopher Mark Jones Suburban Two-Step (Self-released) New full-length from the local guitar-picker and singer who has returned to music in recent years after some time off. Some low-key character pieces on suburban life and lasting love. Boogie-rocker “Roseland” is a highlight, offsetting the sometimes-soporific softness of much of the album. CHRISTOPHER MARK JONES CD RELEASE.…
Critics’ Picks: April 12 – 14
[ALT POP] + THU., APRIL 12 For most people, college serves as a place to study a subject of interest or learn the necessary skills for entering a specific field of employment. For Hayley Mary, Heather Shannon, Nik Kaloper and Sam Lockwood, the University of Sydney served as the birthplace of their band, The Jezabels.…
314 Pasta & Prime
314 Pasta & Prime 314 Allegheny River Blvd. Oakmont. 412-828-7777 Hours: Tue.-Sat. lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; dinner 5-9 p.m. Prices: Antipasti $9-14, pasta $14-19, chicken $20-22, steak $31-54 Liquor: Wine list Less than a year ago, we had an amazing meal at David Racicot’s Notion, in Oakmont. Six months later, Racicot shuttered Notion; word is…
The café at the Big Idea Bookstore is now open
The Big Idea, the worker-owned bookstore/meeting space in Bloomfield, has been open at its new location since September. The re-located shop has more visibility along busy Liberty Avenue (including tiny talking dinosaurs in the shop’s front window), and Big Idea workers say the community has been welcoming. And old-timers and newcomers alike will be happy…
Joe Barsotti evangelizes for smaller-label wines
Joe Barsotti got a late start in wine appreciation. “I didn’t start drinking until I was 28,” he says. But he’s been making up for lost time ever since. He started selling wine in 1980, and ran a wine-tasting group with his wife Ruth for more than 20 years. A little over three years ago,…
Savage Love
About a year ago, my fiancé admitted to me that he is bi. I told him that I was bi-curious. We have had talks about meeting with other couples. I am very insecure: I have been with very few men and no women (beyond kissing). Today, he told me that he signed us up on…
Short List: April 12 – 19
LaToya Ruby Frazier grew up in Braddock, and most of her art is about her family and her hometown — overturning popular myths about black communities, de-industrialization and gentrification. In recent years, her hard-edged yet moving documentary photographs and videos have been exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently at the prestigious 2012 Whitney Biennial, in…
2012 Primary Election Guide
Feeling let down now that Rick Santorum has dropped out of the Republican Presidential fight? Fear not! For there are still plenty of Democratic battles for you to weigh in on this April 24. See our handy charts below for a rundown of the candidates in key state and local races. U.S. Congress District 12…
Pittsburgh stars or co-stars in two new poetry collections and an art book.
JONATHAN MOODY reads from The Doomy Poems at 8 p.m. Thu., April 19 (Awesome Books 929 Liberty Ave. Downtown; free; with Kristofer Collins and Renee Albert; 412-471-1899) and at 3 p.m. Sat., April 21 (Fuel & Fuddle Oakland; free; with Robert Isenberg, Bob Pajich and Angele Ellis; 412-682-3473). Writers and artists love Pittsburgh, or at…
Keyhole
How does a director explain a film like Keyhole to his actors? How does he get them to appear in it? (Oh, OK: Isabella Rossellini and Udo Kier do weird shit all the time.) The new film by Guy Maddin — the freaky-imaginative camp-metaphorist writer/director who works in his native Winnipeg — is pretty much…
Animal Friends’ Telethon
Pittsburgh City Paper attended the Animal Friends’ Telethon on Saturday March 24th! The 2012 Animal Friends telethon was a blast! We got to see all the wonderful dogs, cats and rabbits that need to find loving homes. Proceeds from the Telethon Online Auction benefited Animal Friends’ Medical Wellness and Outreach programming. The Medical Wellness department…
American Reunion
The high school gang originally chronicled in 1999’s American Pie meets up for its class reunion 13 years later. This is the fourth episode (following forays into college and marriage), and reunites the original cast for another round of bawdy jokes. It doesn’t break any new ground, even trundling out the same cookie-cutter characters, jokes…
Trust us, Bill Maher — you don’t want to talk to us for free.
BILL MAHER 8 p.m. Sat., April 14. Byham Theater 101 Sixth St. Downtown. Sold out. 412-456-6666 NEW RULE. You can’t talk for a living and then promote yourself by giving it away for free. That’s bad for business — ask any prostitute. From now on, when Bill Maher charges $92.95 to hear him talk at…
Blue Like Jazz
Blue Like Jazz Starts Fri., April 13. AMC Loews and Destinta Bridgeville You know how Christian-music videos often seem like slightly-off remakes of secular stuff you saw years ago? That’s the exact-same vibe I got from Steve Taylor’s comedy about a church kid from Houston who winds up at Portland’s keeeeee-razy Reed College and has…
Tigers Be Still
TIGERS BE STILL continues through May 6. City Theatre 1300 Bingham St. South Side. 412-431-2489 or citytheatrecompany.org The perception of time is interesting. Tigers Be Still, a play by Karen Rosenstock at City Theatre, is about 100 minutes long. But when I stumbled out of the theater, I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that…
