Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Katie McGinty says manufacturing can return to Pennsylvania
McGinty lays out her plan to support and revive manufacturing in Pennsylvania and criticizes her opponent, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, for doing the opposite.
Listen Up! Aug. 31
Every Wednesday, we make a Spotify playlist containing tracks from artists mentioned in the current music section. Grab a paper and listen along!
Hollywood Theater in Dormont to screen two classic Gene Wilder films
Hollywood Theater in Dormont screens two Gene Wilder films: Blazing Saddles and Willy Wonka
Wild Kindness Records, Spirit and Penn Brewery join up to benefit local bands with a new microbrew, Toasted Sessions Lager
Donald Ducote’s enthusiasm is infectious. As a co-owner of Spirit, in Lawrenceville, and the new general manager of Pittsburgh-based Wild Kindness Records, Ducote sees great things for the future of Pittsburgh’s music scene, and he wants to have a part in shaping it. Ducote and Spirit partner Tom Barr moved to Pittsburgh from Brooklyn two…
Sound Bite goes foraging for chanterelle mushrooms with Tom and Cavan Patterson
Tom and Cavan Patterson take Sound Bite for a walk on the wild (foraging) side.
Tickets Still Left for Pittsburgh’s Big Pour
A couple hundred passes remain for the Sept. 10 beer-themed festival
MP3 Monday: Same
This week’s song comes from Same, an indie-rock four-piece which releases its debut record, Weird As Hell, at The Shop in Bloomfield on Thu., Sept. 1. Stream or download the catchy, wistful and very ’90s track, “Blurry Legs,” below. To download, right-click here and select “save as.”
Lynn Cullen Live 08/29/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Power outages, small pox, Trump’s doctor and name genders. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
What you need to know about Pittsburgh news this week
This week in Pittsburgh and around the region, Bloomfield residents get serious about bocce, performance in August Wilson’s backyard wraps up, and gun-control groups endorse both Toomey and McGinty.
While the spirit of the message may be there, the #Never movement is maddeningly misused on incumbents
In Pennsylvania and other battleground states, the #Never hashtag is being applied to sitting U.S. Senators up for election. Why?
Listen Up! Aug. 26
Over the last couple days, we’ve been flooded emails from readers demanding to know why we didn’t post a Listen Up! Spotify playlist this past Wednesday. (LOL, just kidding, no one noticed.) In any case, file this week’s entry under “better late than never.” What better time than Friday to check out some of the…
Allegheny County Council proposing changes to MWDBE rules; local woman-owned company objects
Spokesperson for the female-owned 84 Lumber says the new rules will exclude the company, but Allegheny County officials say they are just updating language to follow federal regulations.
City Paper Podcast – Sports Rivalries
A discussion on sports rivalries that ends with a realization that all American rivalries are pithy and pointless.
Lynn Cullen Live 08/25/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Healthcare system. Cary Grant’s daughter gives his clothes to Goodwill. Open carry on campus. Where to get your hard hitting news? Comedians. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Brian Wilson brings Pet Sounds to the Benedum Center
BRIAN WILSON’S PET SOUNDS 50th-ANNIVERSARY WORLD TOUR 7 p.m. Thu., Aug. 25. Benedum Center, 237 Seventh St., Downtown. Sold out. 412-456-6666 or
Charlie Brice’s debut poetry collection impresses
In film, a flash cut, according to the dictionary, is “an extremely brief shot, sometimes as short as one frame, which is nearly subliminal in effect … short staccato shots that create a rhythmic effect.” In Pittsburgh writer Charles W. Brice’s debut poetry collection, Flashcuts Out of Chaos (WordTech Editions, $19), readers encounter memory cultivated…
Mike Wysocki’s ranking of the best Pittsburgh sports statues
There are various ways of measuring success. But if your achievements are so great that you get your own statue, that’s not just success — that’s a legacy. In Pittsburgh, our statue game is pretty solid. If a new study came out entitled, “Best Cities for Sports Statues,” we would not only be on it,…
This Just In: A look at local news online and on the tube.
Sink your teeth into this! KDKA’s news show reports on its Facebook page that the Bridgeville Police Department has in its possession one full set of false teeth. The teeth were discovered in Triangle Park. KDKA points out the “best of the best” tooth puns from the comments section of Bridgeville Police Department’s own Facebook…
Killer Heels combines history and fashion
KILLER HEELS: THE ART OF THE HIGH-HEELED SHOE runs through Sept. 4. Frick Art & Historical Center, 7227 Reynolds St., North Point Breeze. 412-371-0600 or thefrickpittsburgh.org As a clumsy 5’9” woman with weak ankles, I avoid high heels. I prefer sandals, slippers or going barefoot. I did not expect to be much enthralled by Killer…
Pittsburgh City Paper Booze Battles: Brillobox vs. Spoon
Each week, we order the same cocktail at two different bars for a friendly head-to-head battle. Go to the bars, taste them both and tell us what you like about each by tagging @pghcitypaper on Twitter or Instagram and using #CPBoozeBattles. If you want to be a part of Booze Battles, send an email to…
Savage Love
DEAR READERS: This is the final week of my summer vacation — but you’ve been getting a new column every week I’ve been gone, all of them written by Dan Savage, none of them written by me. Our final guest Dan Savage is an independent designer, illustrator and animation director based in Brooklyn, N.Y. He…
Terra Vecchia Reserve Vermentino-Chardonnay 2014
“This blend is primarily made of Vermentino grapes with a little Chardonnay. The maritime climate of the region — they cultivate oysters close by! — gives the wine some salinity. When you cross two cultures, the influence in the wine can be unique and beautiful.” — Recommended by Alyssa McGrath, wine and beverage director, Casbah…
Critics’ Picks, Aug. 25-31
[NU METAL] + THU., AUG. 25 The summer of nu metal continues at First Niagara Pavilion with Korn and Rob Zombie. Show up on time for opener In This Moment’s witchy, aggro metal. If your only familiarity with Korn is “Freak on a Leash,” don’t forget that Jonathan Davis and Co. have put out nearly…
Pinakbet
I had a housewarming and pinakbet is all I wanted to make. Though I moved into a house nothing like the homes I grew up in, the chaos awoke the craving for a food I’ve never had a recipe for. Like most comfort foods, this stew-like dish can be contentious. Everyone has tweaks, but no…
The inaugural FEST FEST FEST at City Grows seeks to break free from the male-dominated festival mold
FEST FEST FEST 2-10 p.m. Fri., Aug. 26, and Sat., Aug. 27. City Grows, 5208 Butler St., Lawerenceville. $10 each day, $15 for two-day passes. Free entry for children.
Equity
The cutthroat workplace of Wall Street is the focus of Meera Menon’s drama, with a special emphasis on three women working there. Naomi (Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn) is a top-level investment banker; her specialty is rounding up investors for tech IPOs, and she’s still stinging from the poor performance of her last one. Her assistant,…
New running program gets local homeless-shelter residents active
This past December, on the day after Christmas, Rita Price was laid off from her job. It was a devastating blow for the 56-year-old, who says she has battled depression for most of her life. With nowhere to turn, Price soon found herself in the Bethlehem Haven women’s shelter near Downtown Pittsburgh. “I’m prone…
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey shouldn’t get off so easy on for-profit education ties
The thing about an election cycle is that rhetoric, mud and accusations get thrown around so much that it’s hard to properly digest and react to everything. Because of that, unimportant and sensational items can get relatively big play compared to their actual news value, and smaller, more important topics can get lost in the…
Pittsburgh bocce traditions are alive and well in Bloomfield
Sure, Bloomfield’s Little Italy Days festival isn’t exactly true to its name. There’s a wide array of non-Italian items for sale along Liberty Avenue; you can easily eat chicken fried rice or barbecue instead of pizza; and if you’re remodeling your home, there are even siding and gutter kiosks. But one event is undeniably indicative of…
On the Record with Moon Baby
MOON BABY ALBUM RELEASE 8 p.m. Fri., Aug. 26. Ace Hotel, 120 S. Whitfield St., East Liberty. $10 412-361-3300 or dontevencome.com The latest release from local performer and musician Moon Baby (the alter-ego of Sam Perry) feels like an emotional exorcism. In October, Perry’s roommate was tragically killed in a bike accident. Not long after,…
The Elbow Room returns to its original spot on Ellsworth Avenue in Shadyside
Elbow Room 5744½ Ellsworth Ave., Shadyside 412-441-5222 Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-midnight Prices: Starters $6-12; salads, sandwiches and burgers $8-16; entrees $18-29 Liquor: Full bar You could be forgiven for feeling a bit of whiplash regarding the 4700 block of Ellsworth Avenue. For half a century, it was home to the Elbow…
Cocktails should be fun
Amongst craft-cocktail cognoscenti, the 1970s and ’80s are generally regarded as the nadir of mixology. It was an era of sticky-sweet shooters and oversized martini glasses filled with neon concoctions, a time when an order of an old fashioned might get you watery whiskey with muddled maraschinos. In those dark days of American cocktailing, more…
Penn State and Pitt meet again, but is it a real rivalry?
“Eat shit, Pitt.” That was a recurring chant last weekend at a wedding in Morgantown, W.Va., where two Mountaineers were married on the West Virginia University campus in the company of their families, friends, the bride’s cousin’s boyfriend (me), a Catholic priest who mentioned the Steelers/Ravens rivalry in his homily, and a handwritten sign that…
The Nepali Bazaar, in Brentwood, is a popular shop for Pittsburgh’s growing Bhutanese community
On Route 51 in Brentwood, Padam Pradhan and his family shopped for groceries — not at the towering Giant Eagle, in Brentwood Towne Square, but at the Nepali Bazaar market directly across the street. “We are Bhutanese, so they have all the good stuff,” Pradhan, of Whitehall, says. (Nepal, a small country tucked between India…
Kubo and the Two Strings
Kubo and the Two Strings Directed by Travis Knight Featuring the voices of Art Parkinson, Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey In 3-D, in select theaters Lots of kids’ films invoke the emotional trauma of a missing parent; in Kubo and the Two Strings, it’s the boy protagonist’s dad who is gone. But the opening scenes of…
The Innocents
Anne Fontaine’s historical drama focuses on a brutal consequence of war (even in these modern days) that is rarely explored in any emotional detail: the rape of civilian women by conquering soldiers. This film, inspired by real events, takes place in Poland in December 1945. There, a young French female doctor, Mathilde (Lou de Laâge),…
Short List: August 24 – 31
SPOTLIGHT: Thu., Aug. 25 — Comedy English has many words for laughter: chuckles, giggles, chortles, guffaws, snickers. You’ll need all of them for Pittsburgh Comedy Festival 2016. Hosted by Comedy Arts Pittsburgh, the four-day festival features 34 comedy acts and eight workshops to strengthen your funny bone. The third annual festival’s headliners at the University…
Weird Pittsburgh this week: Kylo Ren masks, Ek Tha Tiger, more naked running
A 22-year-old staffer for U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, a Republican from Pennsylvania’s gerrymandered Ninth District that includes parts of Fayette and Westmoreland counties, says that Shuster’s political opponent accosted her at a campaign booth at the Fayette County Fair, grabbing her “tightly by the wrist” while pressing her for information about Shuster’s campaign. Real-estate investor…
Southside With You
Even if you don’t align politically with the Obamas, there is no reason why an open-hearted viewer wouldn’t enjoy Southside With You, a sweet, low-key film about the future First Couple’s first date. A sort-of-awkward first date that turns into a successful long-term relationship is a universal experience. Writer-director Richard Tanne adopts a similar style…
Little Men
Filmmaker Ira Sachs specializes in small-scale dramas, where key interactions are quietly observed and the emotional punches don’t explode off the screen so much as stick in your craw long after the film is over. There was the May-December marriage in Forty Shades of Blue, the romantic break-up in Keep the Lights On and 2014’s…
Pittsburgh-based bands Mariage Blanc, Delicious Pastries, Sleep Experiments and Host Skull join forces to create the Golden Magnet musical collective
Mariage Blanc and Delicious Pastries have been fixtures of the local indie-music scene for nine years; Sleep Experiments and Host Skull, for five. Beginning this week, all four bands will join together under the umbrella of a new musical collective, Golden Magnet. “The great thing about putting records out in 2016 is no one’s making…
War Dogs
When they write the book about how American popular cinema processed the Iraq War, Todd Phillips’ comedy will get filed under “War as Wallpaper.” Yeah, the plot — based on real events — takes place during and because of the Iraq War, but it could be any war and nobody’s asking any tough or even…
Loot at Little Lake
LOOT continues through Sept. 3. Little Lake Theatre, 500 Lakeside Drive South, Canonsburg. $12-20. 724-745-6300 or littlelaketheatre.org. Little Lake Theatre Co. steps out on a theatrical limb with its production of Joe Orton’s Loot. It’s billed as a farce, but most audiences, when they hear that word, imagine a slamming-door-filled set on which a married…
Local history professor explores the 19th-century origins of the Ku Klux Klan
Duquesne University history professor Elaine Franz Parsons is often occupied with thoughts of violence, terror and their place in the American imagination. One result is Parsons’ new book, Ku Klux: The Birth of the Klan During Reconstruction (University of North Carolina Press). The book pulls on all the threads around our enduring fascination with the…
Affordable-housing advocates to boycott Pittsburgh’s Whole Foods
When more than 200 evictions were announced at Penn Plaza last summer, rumors quickly circulated about what the building’s owners, LG Realty, had in store for the site. Many believed a big-box store, like Costco or Walmart, would take the place of the 312-unit below-market-rate complex, but it remained a mystery. In March, City Paper…
Local comics creator seeks funds for new universe centered on superheroes of color
ASANI LAUNCH PARTY 7-11 p.m. Thu., Aug. 25. 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. 412-471-6070 or culturaldistrict.org Name five black superheroes from Marvel or DC Comics. It’s pretty difficult for those not steeped in comic-book lore. David Chaucer La Forest wants to change that. He has founded Asani Entertainment to focus on a new superhero universe, inclusive…
A History of the American Film at The Summer Company
A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FILM continues through Sun., Aug. 28. The Summer Company at Genesius Theater, Duquesne University, Uptown. $5-15. thesummercompany.com Inspired by the Wildean maxim, “Nothing succeeds like excess,” the Summer Company presents a rollicking, season-ending A History of the American Film. Christopher Durang’s multilayered 1976 musical comedy (a Broadway hit in 1978;…
Lynn Cullen 08/24/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Student tries to jump between two buildings to impress date. Man on the middle class and America’s poor. Hilary Clinton’s health constantly questioned. The Clinton Foundation. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/23/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Trump ties to appeal to black voters. More trickle down economics. Rise in the cost of epi pens and the accountability of pharmacutical companies. Voter fraud laws. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/22/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. PA kind of improves liquor laws. Ryan Locte and white privilege. Entomologist strives for a insect sting pain scale. “I Contain Multitudes,” a book about the microbes we live with and live within us. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our…
