Zine and Heard: Carnegie looks back at riot grrrl zine culture
“Zines were a space where [girls] could say, ‘Yeah [things] are that bad, and let me tell you about it.'”
Is a famous name and a father’s legacy enough to lead Corey O’Connor to city council?
“The name recognition is very powerful.”
The Return of Ska
Local bands look to pick it up where their predecessors left off
Savage Love
My wife and I are expecting our first child. I’m really into the idea of being sprayed with my wife’s breast milk. The other night, she was fretting about when her boobs are going to start leaking. This seemed like a good time to bring it up, so I told her about my newly discovered…
Political Math
So yesterday, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl held a press conference with Allegheny County Controller Mark Patrick Flaherty to announce that, yes, the city and the county will be consolidating their financial-management systems. I’ll just pause so you can reflect on the historic nature of this moment. Did that sound snarky? I apologize. Truth to tell, this…
MP3 Monday comes a day late: Sistered
Good morning Pittsburgh! What’s that smell in the air? Is it the blooming flowers, the damp stench of spring rain, or all the college students who have abandoned showering in the interest of studying for finals? Although all three scents are currently permeating the air, I’m referring to the sweet smell of an enticing new…
Monday giveaway: The Decemberists
We’ll get to your MP3 Monday in a bit, but first: There’s this band, The Decemberists. You’ve heard of them. You probably know them. You might want to go see them play on Thursday at the Benedum. Well, we might just have you covered. We have, in our hands at our disposal, right now, a…
Quick review: Bassnectar at Stage AE, April 15
Apparently, Bassnectar is anti-glowstick, which is a little bit anti-rave-cliché, and that worked, because this show felt very much more like a concert than a rave. It could be argued that it was a cross between the two, as elements of electro leaked over into elements of rock ‘n’ roll. But even the way his…
Formula412 releases Reality Show
A few weeks back, I posted a couple of videos from local rap/rock band Formula412. The five-piece — guitar, bass, keys, drums and vocals — is releasing its second full-length, Reality Show, tomorrow night at Mr. Small’s Theater in Millvale. Reality Show is an aggressive mix of politically conscious lyrics, Pittsburgh namechecking, and tight rock…
Quantum’s Maria de Buenos Aires at the East Liberty Y
Surely one of the things Quantum Theatre’s audiences appreciate most is the urban-egg-hunt aspect of following the nomadic company’s productions to offbeat spaces around town. Quantum is of course the company that by the design of founder and artistic director Karla Boos stages only site-specific work, invariably in nontraditional performances spaces. Most notable, perhaps, there…
Taking Tim Murphy’s temperature on Ryan budget bill
Whatever else Paul Ryan’s throw-grandma-from-the-train budget proposal accomplishes, it may put our very own Tim Murphy on the spot. As this space has documented before, the talented Mr. Murphy has a gift for justifying extremist votes with moderate-sounding rhetoric. But a recent Politico story suggests Murphy may beamong a number of GOP reps uncomfortable with…
Short List: Week of April 14 – 21
As with the music of the greatest composers, there is a timelessness to the ballets of George Balanchine. His genius enthralls both audiences and dancers. A longtime proponent of the father of American ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the PBT orchestra present three Balanchine masterworks at the Benedum Center. George Balanchine: Celebrating a Legend includes…
2011 Music Guide
Featuring the Return of the Mr. Roboto Project with Machine Age Studios and Draw Us Lines’ Echo Chamber
Facing the Music: What’s on the MP3 players of Pittsburgh celebs? We find out.
“All of my constituents are going to be like, ‘Where’s Lynyrd Skynyrd?'”
Inside Machine Age Studios
A look at the studio’s collection of vintage equipment
Local blog produces monthly music videos
Despite the low-budget nature, the quality of the videos is professional.
The Mr. Roboto Project Moves to Penn Avenue
The D.I.Y. venue and community space has maintained a unique niche in Pittsburgh’s music scene and, in some ways, held up a mirror to the changes within it.
The Upsetter: The Life and Music of Lee Scratch Perry
This documentary from Ethan Higbee and Adam Bhala Lough purports to tell the five-decade story of Lee Scratch Perry, reggae’s monumentally influential songwriter, producer and occasional performer. Unfortunately, this film misses the chance to be a useful document, and is at best a curiosity piece about Perry’s demented sides (which appear to number many). The…
Arthur
Russell Brand stars in Jason Winer’s reboot of the 1981 Dudley Moore comedy about a rich man who refuses to grow up. He parties, cruises around Manhattan in ridiculous cars, and leaves it all for his stalwart nanny, Hobson (Helen Mirren), to clean up. Then, Arthur must man up when his mother forces him into…
Critics’ Picks
Thu., April 14 — Indie-Pop You may have encountered KT Tunstall’s music when she released her debut album, Eye to the Telescope, in 2004. But if your iPod and Tunstall haven’t become friends yet, now would be a good time to introduce them. After 2007’s Drastic Fantastic, the artist felt uninspired and unsure of her…
The Conspirator
Following Lincoln’s death and the capture of his assassin, John Wilkes Booth, seven men and one woman, Mary Surratt are rounded up and charged with conspiring to kill the president. A young lawyer (and war vet), Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy), grudgingly takes up the defense of Surratt (Robin Wright Penn) at the military tribunal held…
Potiche
François Ozon’s light-hearted-cum-serious-minded Potiche is the story of an idle-rich housewife who ably steps in at her draconian husband’s umbrella company when he collapses in the face of demands from striking workers. It’s 1977, and when we meet Suzanne (Catherine Deneuve), she’s jogging badly in red designer sweats, making notes on her trivial day of…
Your Highness
David Gordon Green’s film is ostensibly a parody of the dusty genre in which knights undertake a journey through a perilous and semi-magical land. The very slim plot finds two brothers — the heroic Prince Fabious (James Franco) and the petulant, oafish Prince Thadeous (Danny McBride) — “questing” in order to save Fabious’ fiancée. En…
Loving Hut
It’s not surprising that Pittsburgh’s newest vegan restaurant is an unconventional case.
CD Reviews: The latest from Nik & the Central Plains and other local acts
Nik & the Central Plains Walk on Beaches (Self-released) The locals return with an eclectic mix of guitar rock and alt-folk. At times, Nik Westman, who normally channels Neil Young and ’90s alt-country, finds a space that’s a bit closer to Pavement. Rockers like the title track and “Trash Can Fire” tread aggressive territory with…
Sports and music have always been deeply connected
If you don’t think sports and music are connected, then why do fans at Heinz Field beg for Styx’s “Renegade?”
Gassed Up
Gas-friendly legislation just the beginning
Ryat encourages hands-on interaction with their music.
The music — complex structures of synthesized and acoustic sounds, with Christina Ryat’s ethereal and often Björk-like vocals overlaid — lend themselves well to playful refiguring.
Atmosphere: Minneapolis hip-hop group’s message evolves to maintain relevance
The transition from young, fire-breathing MC to wiser, revered hip-hop icon has taken Sean Daley just about his whole career.
Annie O’Neill’s Work in Progress at Filmmakers Galleries
The North Side-based photographer’s gorgeous series of portraits of people with 50 years or more at the same job is turning into her life’s work, at least part-time. O’Neill was working for the Detroit News in 1995 when she was assigned to photograph a family. The father was a barber. “I found out he was…
Tristen et al. at The Club at Stage AE
Toss this one into the “Good Shows at Completely Inappropriate Venues” files. Last night I hit up the show headlined by Ezra Furman & the Harpoons, with support from Tristen and The Apache Relay. The acts were all great — surprisingly so, even, especially in the case of Apache Relay, which I knew nothing of…
Appleblim at Lawrenceville Moose
VIA Presents shows have garnered a reputation for being particularly genre-blind. Their strategically curated lineups never fail to bring some all-out boundary-pushing audio/visuals to the East End, and Saturday’s show at the Lawrenceville Moose, with its lineup of bass masters, did not disappoint. Headlined by Bristol-based Appleblim (Laurie Osborne, Apple Pips), the sounds emanating from…
