Big Brothers Weigh in On Senate Race
There’s been plenty of buzz about this New Yorker profile of the Koch brothers — whose contributions to right-wing causes make Dick Scaife look lik … well … like a senescent shut-in who sends checks to anybody who mails him a set of cat stamps. The Brothers Koch have made their influence felt mostly by…
Local bank benefits from lack of environmental interest
Today’s Post-Gazette carries a reprint of a New York Times story about how banks are becoming increasingly wary of financing environmentally destructive mining practices like mountaintop removal. As the story puts it: Blasting off mountaintops to reach coal in Appalachia, or churning out millions of tons of carbon dioxide to extract oil from sand in…
Michael Clinton’s American Portraits
It’s hard to look at this forthcoming volume featuring glossy color portraits of 93 Americans without thinking about the current immigration debate. But Clinton, a South Hills native who’s ascended to the heights of the magazine industry, doesn’t seem to have meant it that way: He just likes America’s diversity — looking at people’s faces…
MP3 Monday: The Sparrows
Drive about 20 miles in any direction from Pittsburgh and you might as well be in Kentucky. So the brand of Southern rock Ellwood City band The Sparrows plays doesn’t really feel inauthentic. This week’s MP3 Monday comes from their album Back in Red. The track “Hitchhiker” is reminiscent of Dylan’s “rock phase” with some…
Christian Coaltion issues 2010 scorecard
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: The Christian Coalition has released its scorecard ranking the voting records of seated Congressfolk. I’ll give you three guesses as to which Pennsylvania Democrat got the coalition’s highest ranking. You can grab the scorecard yourself if you like; the site will ask you for an e-mail address…
Local guy gets P4K ink, you get things to do this weekend
First, and most importantly: Wise Blood is a local feller who’s getting some buzz in the Internet-world: he was featured today in Pitchfork’s Rising section (I just linked to the Rising tag because the permalink to his story is kind of messed up — he should be at the top of this page for a…
Phoning it in for the 2010 elections
So I was on the listening end of two phone calls yesterday that summed up this November’s election. In a nutshell: Democrats are reaching out to new voters with a message of optimism and hope. Republicans are reaching out to their traditional base with a message of fear and anger. Guess which side is expected…
A 2-D fighting game continues in the enjoyably chaotic tradition of its predecessor.
The all-important multiplayer modes, on the other hand, are just about perfect.
Getting Schooled
Our Back to School issue offers College 101 — from students who’ve mastered the subject
Short List: Week of August 26 – September 2
Thu., Aug. 26 — Music Come hear Bill and Mickey’s band — that would be The Rhythm Devils, led by Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann and percussionist Mickey Hart. The band plays Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead tonight with a lineup that includes talking-drum whiz Sikiru Adepoju, known to Pittsburgh audiences through Hart’s recent…
The Switch
Hollywood may finally be hearing my pleas: If there must be romantic comedies with charmingly neurotic protagonists who take 90 minutes to get their oh-so-cute shizz together, can’t they sometimes be the guy? That’s the case in Josh Gordon and Will Speck’s film, which makes Wally (Jason Bateman), a nice-guy Manhattan financier, both the emotional…
Cropsey
Every place has a mythical, mysterious creepy dude who lives in some secluded spot and appears only to snatch up and harm children. Such urban legends are made more “real” with pertinent local details. For kids growing up on New York City’s Staten Island in the 1970s and ’80s, the boogeyman was called “Cropsey,” and…
Get Low
A hermit named Felix (RoBert Duvall) living outside a small town in Tennessee, circa, 1930, comes down from the hills for his own funeral. He hires an undertaker (Bill Murray), who agrees to honor Felix’s request: He wants a funeral party, while he’s still alive, and he wants everyone who knows a story about him…
Life During Wartime
Solondz’s companion film to his masterpiece, Happiness, revolves around three Jewish sisters living in contemporary Florida, but the war of his title is the war at home and within. One (Allison Janney) has met a man, but her ex – jailed for child molestation – is now free. Another sister’s (Shirley Henderson) husband makes obscene…
Los Chiludos
Superior Mexican-American fare sets up south of town
Lost in Yonkers
Pat Cena Samreny and Mary Liz Meyer play mother and daughter with a great chemistry; you can see the mangled love the two share.
Grandma B’s Café
Hill District diner offers home cookin’ and a relaxed atmosphere.
The Spot on my Favorite Blue Dress
A poem by Nancy Kirkwood
This Just In: August 26 – September 2
Highlights from the local TV news: Hands-On with Hanson
A town-hall meeting brings the challenges and opportunities facing the August Wilson Center into focus.
Guess told the crowd that it’s “probable” the center will eventually become “the pre-eminent insitution for African-American arts and culture in the world.”
WYEP’s Schenley Plaza concert series features These United States
The new album shows a darker side of These United States, usually a more poppy and energetic band.
The Hate Police visit 31st Street Pub, celebrating seminal indie zine Touch and Go
Recently, all the issues from 1979-83 have been reprinted in a 575-page book called Touch and Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine.
“Drunken bluegrass” band Ursa Major solidifies local ties with new release and DIY space
Since forming in 2008, Ursa Major has evolved from a loose, two-man folk act touring the Northeast with the help of $3 Megabus fares into a tight-knit five-piece band.
Hip-hop hub Time Bomb hosts art show and Grind Time emcee battle
“In the past, we’ve had a lot of battles. Time Bomb is a safe meeting place for kids from different schools to get together.”
Left School
Conservative group says Pitt too liberal
Hearing Facts
Wecht testifies that medical marijuana ban ‘makes no sense’
In Need of a Ride
Cuts would keep a lot of riders from social services
Wax On, Rip Off
Pick the wrong martial-arts gym and you could learn a harder lesson than you bargained for
Viewers are required to activate Outer Body/Inner Experiences.
The exertions of the dancers’ bodies suggests a religious fervor, revealing their internal experience and tying the work to the show’s theme.
Savage Love
I lost my virginity last night. I’m a straight male in my early 30s, so it was about time. We had a good time. However, I didn’t climax during sex, which is a result of years of death-grip masturbation. (Thanks for the warning: I’m sorry I didn’t heed it.) She took it personally but seemed…
