MP3 Tuesday: Balloon Ride Fantasy
OK, it wasn’t planned this way, but it worked out perfectly: On this drizzly, gray, relatively cool day, I’ve got a fall-weather MP3 for you. It comes from Balloon Ride Fantasy, a duo whose debut album, Monocle City, I reviewed a couple months back. They were kind enough to supply the title track from the…
High expectations and low ratings (so far) at WDUQ
2011 has been a tough year for jazz lovers. First, jazz-and-NPR station WDUQ was sold off by Duquesne University. Then the new owners, led by fellow public-radio broadcaster WYEP, decided to drop jazz from most of the line-up, replacing it with additional NPR and other news programming. Finally, days before the new format launched, insult…
Rick Santorum: gay-rights advocate
If, at around 10:25 p.m. last night, you heard something that sounded like 10,000 monkeys shitting themselves, it wasn’t your imagination. That was the sound of irony dying. It happened just seconds after Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum professed to be concerned with the fate of gays. As long as they live in Iran. Santorum…
A book-signing at a venerable Squirrel Hill watering hole and a poet’s book-launch.
The Squirrel Hill Café is under new ownership since Lee Skirboll bartended there in the 1990s. But the legendary joint is still the logical place for Skirboll to sign copies of his first novel, the not-quite-memoir Cage Days. Skirboll grew up in the neighborhood, graduating from Allderdice High School in 1980 and the University of…
What’s the story at Cyberpunk Apocalypse, Lawrenceville’s “house-plus” art collective?
At age 21, Daniel McCloskey received a mysterious inheritance of $10,000 from a woman he had never met. Apparently, the woman had been very close to McCloskey’s older sister and, as he puts it, “wanted to give me the benefit of the doubt that I was OK, too.” He had just graduated from the University…
Drawn in A Day holds up even if you missed the “day.”
Ideally, you saw Drawn in a Day on July 22. The dozen artists in this Space Gallery exhibit spent that titular day creating work in public, directly on the big Downtown venue’s walls. But if you missed that Gallery Crawl spectacle, it’s still worth seeing the larger-scale works so conjured. Perhaps the loveliest piece is…
Past-Due Bill: Activists worry delays could hamper police-accountability measure
Supporters of a long-debated police-accountability bill say they’re fed up with months of legislative delays. The postponements, they say, are nothing more than a tactic to force Pittsburgh city councilors into watering down the measure or, worse yet, voting against it. “There is a lot of bullying going on,” says Beth Pittinger, executive director…
Fighting Perception: Group wants you to forget what you think you know about Allentown
Judy Hackel remembers when she had to chase prostitutes away from the corner of Arlington and Industry streets in Allentown. For almost 30 years, “johns,” she says, would park in front of her house. Even Hackel’s granddaughter learned to spot the prostitutes. “Grandma,” Hackel recalls her granddaughter saying, “there’s that woman again.” But Hackel hasn’t…
Short List: Week of August 10 – 16
This week Pittsburgh gets another arts festival — but it’s kind of an accidental one, and edgier than most, as three unaffiliated shows highlight queer women exploring gender issues and more. First comes the Queer Women of Color Artist BlowOUT! This Aug. 13 concert at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater features Philly-based performance-poetry duo Pussies, Pens and…
Critics’ Picks: Aug 12 – 18
[PUNK] + FRI., AUG. 12 If Warped Tour is a little too … er … poser for you, perhaps a trip to Skull Fest is warranted. This weekend marks the third edition of the local punk-and-hardcore festival; tonight’s kickoff show at The Shop is headlined by Crazy Spirit, Perdition, Infernal Stronghold and Vivisect. Additional events…
Barcelona at Rivers Edge
With a family connection in New Kensington, Jason has been making tracks on Allegheny River Boulevard for a couple of decades now, and on every trip he’s noted what appears to be one of the most desirable restaurant properties in (well, actually, just outside of) Pittsburgh. Nestled between the tree-lined road and the river, it’s…
Late Edition
Newspapers are dying — a slow, painful death. You’ve probably read about it online. Thanks largely to the Internet, print journalism is hemorrhaging revenue left and right. So publishers are desperate for subscribers, especially those with projected lifespans that can be measured in decades. At 26 years old, I’m a newspaper publisher’s wet dream. …
Bad Bargain
Let’s give credit where it’s due: For decades, leftists have longed to mount an effective challenge to global capitalism. And then along come the Tea Party Republicans, who after less than nine months in office stood poised to demolish the entire system, holding it hostage by threatening default on U.S. government debts unless there were…
NOLA in the Square picks up where Embury leaves off
Pittsburgh’s burgeoning cocktail culture bid farewell this weekend to Embury in the Strip District — the pioneering pre-prohibition cocktail bar which marked one of the most serious efforts to bring craft bartending to the city. (Owner Spencer Warren could not reach a new lease agreement with his landlord.) But Embury’s influence will endure, along with…
Savage Love
I’m a 23-year-old male who has never been in a relationship. I never have the courage to go ask anyone out. I dread rejection. Compounding this problem: I might be bisexual. I’m afraid to reveal this to anyone. I’ve wasted 23 years of my life because of my fear of being rejected — by everyone,…
Bisou
There are plenty of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern restaurants throughout Squirrel Hill. Now, a new joint, Bisou, turns the globe further west and south, offering cuisine from the North African nation of Libya. This tiny storefront restaurant is an unassuming space — a counter to order, a drinks cooler and a couple of small tables.…
CD Reviews
Danila GajiMaybe(Broke Whore Records) Russian transplant and adopted Pittsburgher Danila Gaji’s most recent album is dark yet danceable, sometimes minimal but never dull. On the whole it is tech-house with bits of ambient that remain serious, but not so much so as to lack playfulness. Whether gleaned from the title or found somewhere lying…
Local record producer tells of working with Rollins, Kevorkian
Producer and Bloomfield resident Rae DiLeo boasts an impressive resume, having worked with — among many others — Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, Billy Idol, Filter and … Dr. Jack Kevorkian. While running the label Lucid Subjazz, DiLeo and his business partner saw a story on CNN about physician-assisted suicide’s most prominent champion, which revealed…
Identity Festival Lineup in Short
Going to Identity Festival? Here’s what we suggest you check out: Skullcandy Mainstage Modeselektor — Berlin-based electro, glitch-hop, IDM fusion. Its tracks remain genre-blind. The music is smart, but still refrains from taking itself too seriously. Modeselektor has made lots of music with Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, if that gives you any indication as to…
Identity Festival brings big names in electronic music to First Niagara Pavilion
Identity Festival, which purports to be the world’s first traveling electronic-music event, touches down at First Niagara Pavilion on Aug. 13. In its first year, the festival is a litmus test for whether electronic music is popular enough to warrant a traveling three-stage festival, like those that have become standard for punk rock and heavy…
Passione
Actor John Turturro has slid behind the camera to direct this cinematic celebration of Neapolitan music. Passione is not really a documentary — nor a concert film — but an unabashed love note from the director to the city and its vibrant music that he loves. There, the music resonates with influences from Europe, the…
Rise of Planet of the Apes
Admittedly, nobody expects a movie starring digitally recreated apes who turn on their human overlords to be anything other than silly, mildly provocative fun. Most of us have fond memories of the film’s antecedents: the five-film series from four decades ago (especially 1968’s Planet of the Apes); the subsequent TV series; or even the original…
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
Michael Rapaport’s documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, about the godfathers of conscious hip hop, is a visual and music-historical delight, if jumbled in its delivery. It opens with an argument between Tribe MCs Q-Tip and Phife Dawg that sets viewers up for the tension that will mark the…
Page One: Inside the New York Times
You’ve likely heard: Print media is in a death spiral. Andrew Rossi’s documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times frames this issue through a few fly-on-the-cubicle months at the Times. When not chasing down sources, deadlines and tardy staffers, editors and reporters mull over the changing nature of their job and industry. The camera…
Jesus Christ Superstar
If you don’t happen to be Christian, and you weren’t around in 1971, Jesus Christ Superstar may feel like a mind-freak. What, you may wonder, is happening onstage? What are Jesus and Judas arguing about? As the Jewish elite grumbles and Herod’s concubines do kick-lines, Superstar seems increasingly half-baked, like a Fellini film smooshed into…
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest is the greatest play ever written. So the unpleasantness of this Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre production can’t be blamed on the script. Instead, blame artistic arrogance. Imagine the chutzpah in thinking: “You know what? Earnest needs me — I can make it better!” Yet that’s what director and “adapter”…
Review: Lucy Woodward at Club Café
Yesterday I prattled on a bit about situations in which Club Café is a less-than-perfect venue. Today, let’s look at the flip side of that argument. There are times, reader, when Club Café is perfect for the show that’s taking place there. Like last night, for instance. Last night’s show was opened up by Nightly…
Toomey placed on budget panel: This is how screwed we are
Hometown boy makes good, I guess. Pennsylvania’s junior Senator, Tea Party favorite Pat Toomey, is going to be on the “super committee” that’s supposed to hatch bipartisan solutions to the federal deficit by year’s end. What’s this mean? Well, let’s see. For starters, when Toomey announced this news online, his release included the somewhat cryptic…
City schools make headway in test scores
Last week, Pittsburgh school officials delivered the bad news: The district plans to close seven city schools to help reduce a projected $68 million deficit. Today, however, came some good news. Superintendent Linda Lane smiled proudly during a press conference this morning as she announced the district’s mostly positive 2011 state test results. “We feel…
Review: Glitch Mob at the Rex
The Rex Theater can be a bit of a frustrating place for the over-21 set of concertgoers. There’s a bar inside to your immediate right that, through renovations and improvements, has retained its theater-snack-bar feel. It’s got charm and a sense of history like an old theater on E. Carson St. should. However, that charm…
