Photos from Pittsburgh Menorah lighting
Staff photographer Heather Mull attended the city’s annual Menorah lighting Tuesday night, the first night of Hanukkah. Photos by Heather Mull
Hanukkah begins with early literacy activities at Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill
Bananas and pretzel sticks were all the rage at story time on Sunday morning – and not just because they’re awesome snacks. Kids had the run of the Levinson room at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill, making menorahs by stabbing the little pretzel candles into banana chanukiahs…and then gladly chowing down. “I think…
New show announcements include Will Butler, John C. Reilly and friends, and something called Rave of Thrones
John C. Reilly, Marshall Crenshaw and Will Butler of The Arcade Fire are among the notable names in this week’s new concert announcements, which we bring you every Tuesday afternoon. Here’s a roundup: At the Rex Theater, we recently learned that Marco Benevento and the Mike Dillon Band will share headlining duties Fri., March 27…
Translations at the New Hazlett CSA
Impressive mix of local talents on display at subscription series
Lynn Cullen Live 12/16/14
Video Archive Embarrassed by the empty seats at the Steelers game yesterday; Obits: Peter O’ Toole, actor / Joan Fontaine, actress; Rich Fitzgerald kicks Chelsa Wagner out of reception; 3rd largest cause of death in US are mistakes made in hospitals; stock market does better under democratic presidents; stories of good will; Brits overuse the…
MP3 Monday: The Neffs
Photo Courtesy of Mike Mast Welcome back to the workweek. This Monday we’re bringing you a longer tune off of The Neffs’ new album, Roam. The tune plays with the trio’s harmonic voices and showcases the group’s airy percussion reminiscent of Local Natives. [Download link expired]
Lynn Cullen Live 12/15/14
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Protesters march through East Liberty to Zone 5 Police Headquarters demanding justice for Leon Ford
Protesters gathered in East Liberty to demand that any remaining charges against Leon Ford – who was shot by a Pittsburgh police officer during a traffic stop in 2012 – be dropped and that the officer who fired the shots – Zone 5 Officer David Derbish – be put on desk duty. Ford, who is now…
Longtime local record store and cafe to close
Lawnrenceville’s 720 Music, Clothing and Cafe, which has been in its current location for four years and held three other locations previously since its opening in 1999, announced this morning it will be closing in January. The store’s owners told CP they were moving on to pursue other opportunities; read more on our music blog,…
720 Music, Clothing and Cafe to close in January
The ownership team behind 720 Music, Clothing and Cafe, a longtime local record store that settled into Lawrenceville and expanded to serve coffee and sell vintage clothing nearly four years ago, announced this morning the shop will close next month. 720 began as 720 Records in Oakland and had locations in East Liberty and Squirrel…
Alive in the Underground hosts annual Christmas show
Sometimes hard rock has to put on a Christmas sweater, hold a puppy and raise a little money for charity. Alive in the Underground is holding its annual Christmas show this Saturday, December 13th at Club Café. Tickets are $5 and all proceeds go to Toys for Tots. The Pittsburgh-based quintet has released a series…
Lynn Cullen Live 12/12/14
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Protesters to rally in East Liberty on Friday to demand justice for Leon Ford
A protest to demand justice for Leon Ford is planned for 6 p.m. on Friday at the intersection of Penn and Highland avenues in East Liberty. Ford was shot by Zone 5 police officers during a traffic stop in Highland Park in 2011. In September, he was acquitted on charges of aggravated assault, but the…
CP Weekend Podcast Debuts
Today, City Paper launched a new podcast: CP Weekend. The podcast, posted every Thursday afternoon, will highlight CP Listings Editor Margaret Welsh’s picks for the weekend’s most happening happenings.This week’s podcast, produced by CP Multimedia Editor Ashley Murray, is live and can be found right here.
South Side’s City Books Closing
The book store is wrapping a quarter-century as a local cultural landmark with a big sale. During the ’90s, the two-story storefront shop — with its dark-wood shelves and obligatory cat — was part of the South Side’s then-bustling arts scene, a place for poetry readings and other performances. It is owned by Edward Gelblum,…
#TUT (Throw Up Thursday): Santorum announces 2016 Presidential Run
Just when you thought Rick Santorum’s political career was dead and buried, the former Western Pennsylvania Senator announced in an interview with the Washington Post Wednesday that he is going to hit the campaign trail again in 2016. From the Post’s Karen Tumulty: Rick Santorum won primaries and caucuses in 11 states in 2012, coming…
A Conversation with YouTube celeb Tyler Oakley
The chat celeb and gay-rights advocate brings his PJs-wearing stage show to town on Saturday. CP’s Danielle Fox has an interview in Program Notes.
Lynn Cullen Live 12/11/14
Video Archive Today we tested out the new YouTube live streaming service. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
CP Weekend Podcast – Dec. 12 – 14, 2014
This week on CP Weekend podcast: Get in the holiday spirit with Burlesque-a-pades, shop the holiday markets, and, for your listening pleasure, indie rockers Exit Verse, traditional Christmas music, and (sort of) anti-holiday readings.
Critics’ Picks, Dec. 11-17
[HOLIDAY] + THU., DEC. 11 It’s a holiday tradition that’s grown over time — and supports a good cause. The annual WYEP Holiday Hootenanny and Pajama Jam returns to Stage AE for tonight’s show, featuring local talent doing classic and offbeat holiday tunes. Curated this year by man-about-town Nathan Zoob (of Wreck Loose) and his…
New Releases
Bill Jasper Acoustics Deviled Soul (Acoustic Bridge Records) soundcloud.com/billjasperacoustics While acoustic guitar is the center and soul of this five-song EP, it’s by no means an unplugged album; Bill Jasper provides hard rockers with a Southern edge throughout. Each song is seemingly crafted from an acoustic-guitar base, then overlaid with electric guitar and a rhythm…
Robert Cook releases his second album — a Christmas record — after hitting retirement age
ROBERT COOK CD RELEASE, part of PITTSBURGH SONGWRITERS CIRCLE CHRISTMAS SHOW 7 p.m. Sat., Dec. 13 Bloomfield Bridge Tavern 4412 Liberty Ave Bloomfield Free with canned-good donation 412-682-8611 or pittsburghsong writerscircle.org Robert Cook has always loved holiday music: The first LP he ever bought was a collection of classical pieces which featured the Nutcracker Suite.…
Plan B: New center will provide resources, support for bisexual community
In an era when same-sex marriage is legal in 35 states and even corporate heads are coming out, Paula Brewer says bisexuals are still questioned by their own LGBT community. “Even they can’t wrap their heads around it,” she says. “We make everybody uncomfortable.” Brewer, of Observatory Hill, is helping to run the new eBIcenter…
Savage Love
You may not be the right person to answer this, but your commenters might be able to help. I love and support my friends who are transgender, but I don’t understand all the 18- to 21-year-olds among my friends who are declaring themselves “gender-neutral.” I am a bit older and have always been interested in…
The Homesman
The Homesman Starring: Hilary Swank and Tommy Lee Jones Directed by: Tommy Lee Jones Starts Fri., Dec. 12. The opening credits to The Homesman appear over the expanses of the Nebraska Territory. Then, into the empty frame comes a lone woman, navigating a mule-drawn plow. Soon after, there are three short disturbing scenes of other…
Short List: December 10 – 16
SPOTLIGHT: Fri., Dec. 12 — Screen “Ghosts of Johnston County” is a new 35-minute documentary about an unlikely corner of the “war on terror.” Since 2005, activists have targeted Aero Contractors, Ltd., whose nondescript terminal at Johnston County Airport, in rural North Carolina, has been home base for dozens of the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” flights.…
Stuff We Like
Street Protests. Pittsburghers, including teens, are standing in solidarity with other cities around the country. Alternate Histories Subscription. Local artist Matthew Buchholz makes kick-ass prints, seamlessly mashing historic images with sci-fi monsters. Subscribe to his new mailing service — or gift one to a friend — and get artwork delivered each month. Available in two-, four-…
An exhibit documents top architects redefining spaces for health care
MAGGIE’S CENTRES continues through Jan. 5. Carnegie Museum of Art 4400 Forbes Ave. Oakland 412-622-3131 or cmoa.org Vitruvius, the ancient Roman architect and treatise-writer, said one of the most lasting motifs of classical architecture was inspired by an offering at a maiden’s grave. A mourner left votive objects in a basket covered with a flat…
Bangal Kebab
Bangal Kebab 320 Atwood St. 412-605-0521 Hours: Sun.-Thu. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Prices: Appetizers, soups and salads $3-6; entrees $8-14 Liquor: BYOB Atwood Street, where town and gown meet for inexpensive food from foreign lands, seems to observe a special Law of Conservation of Indian Restaurants: If one closes, another will surely…
Artist’s project is based on visits to local houses of worship
GATHERINGS continues through Dec. 31 707 Penn Gallery 707 Penn Ave. Downtown trustarts.org Becky Slemmons began work on Gatherings not with sketch pad or chisel, but with visits to places of worship. Over the course of 13 months (starting in 2010), she went to 100 of the more than 1,500 churches, mosques, temples and other…
Fresh off a win, Maggie’s Farm has big things ahead
In distilling, the tails are the last bits to come out of the still. Full of unwanted compounds and, as Maggie’s Farm’s owner Tim Russell puts it, “bitter, wet-dog flavors,” the tails seem more fit for the slop sink than your rocks glass. Luckily for us, Russell knows better. He holds on to those flavorful…
It’s a Wonderful Life at Bricolage
MIDNIGHT RADIO: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE continues through Dec. 20. 937 Liberty Ave. Downtown $35 412-471-0999 or webbricolage.com Dateline Hollywood, 1946: RKO Pictures releases the Frank Capra comedy/drama It’s a Wonderful Life. Though initially a box-office disappointment, this story about a man learning the impact he’s had on others will become, according to the American…
The venerable Spice Island Tea House in Oakland tries out a new menu of Singaporean and Malaysian cuisine
For nearly 20 years, customers knew what they were getting when they walked into Oakland’s Spice Island Tea House. But after foot surgery left 15-year veteran chef Hai Jing Leong unable to work for a few months, co-owner Ron Lee decided to both temporarily reconfigure the menu and give it a new name: Hawker Stand.…
Great Expectations at PICT Classic
GREAT EXPECTATIONS continues through Dec. 20 Charity Randall Theatre (Stephen Foster Memorial) 4301 Forbes Ave. Oakland. $25-48 412-561-6000 or picttheatre.org Let’s skip the obvious jokes that beg for a put-down of anything titled Great Expectations. PICT Classic Theatre’s production, under the direction of its artistic director, Alan Stanford, succeeds in pulling off one huge show:…
Local concert promoter catches heat for comments about anti-violence protests
A social-media firestorm that started Saturday night with a local music promoter’s Facebook post mocking anti-police-brutality protesters has led to the resignation of the new kitchen manager at Altar Bar, calls for a boycott and the cancelation of February’s Anti-Flag show at the venue. It has also led to plans, however, for events to be…
Romeo and Juliet ballet at the Conservatory Dance Company
CONSERVATORY DANCE COMPANY’S ROMEO AND JULIET continues through Sun., Dec. 14. Pittsburgh Playhouse 222 Craft Ave. Oakland. $18-20 412-392-8000 or pittsburgh playhouse.com It’s sometimes easy to forget that Point Park University’s Conservatory Dance Company is a student troupe. The company so easily appears like a professional one in contemporary and modern dance works. In its latest…
Taking to the streets
In Pittsburgh and across the country, multiple protests over the death of unarmed African Americans at the hands of police have been numerous. There were several in Pittsburgh alone last week in the wake of a New York grand jury’s decision not to indict a police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner. There…
Exodus: Gods and Kings
It’s a story you’ll remember from your Bible or The Ten Commandments: Moses, who lived among the Egyptian royals, is banished into the desert, where he receives a message from God that he is to lead the enslaved Hebrews out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. So, it’s not fresh narrative that’s the draw…
The Overnighters
North Dakota’s oil and gas fields have made the small prairie hamlet of Williston a modern-day boomtown. But as thousands of workers — mostly men from the South and the West — pour in, hoping to snag high-paying manual-labor jobs, there’s nowhere to house them. Thus, Jay Reinke, a local pastor, institutes a program to…
Lemuria marks a decade of doing it themselves, with a little help
LEMURIA with PRINCE, KHEES, FAKE GRAVE 7 p.m. Tue., Dec. 16 Mr. Roboto Project 5106 Penn Ave. Bloomfield $10 All ages therobotoproject.org When guitarist Sheena Ozzella and drummer Alex Kerns started Buffalo-based indie-rock band Lemuria in 2004, one of their goals was to tour Europe. In the decade since, the band has played over 900…
In moderation: Stephen Kellogg talks politics, crowdfunding
STEPHEN KELLOGG with BEN FIELDS 7 p.m. Thu., Dec. 11. Club Café 56 S. 12th St. South Side. $20 412-431-4950 or clubcafelive.com Stephen Kellogg has been in music for two decades, most prominently as the frontman of Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers. That band called it quits in 2012, after almost a decade together, and…
Lynn Cullen Live 12/10/14
Video Archive Lynn’s report on the torture reports and why she wants to hug John McCain. CEOs involved in Charlestown water pollution charged. 52,000 paid out by the city to a school teacher for mistreatment by an officer. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or…
