At swearing in, Fitzgerald touts natural-gas biz, averts Occupy Pittsburgh “mic check”
Democrat Rich Fitzgerald was sworn into office today, the third county executive in the post’s history. But before the ceremony even began, it was interrupted by a demonstration from Occupy Pittsburgh members. About 10 protesters walked down an aisle in Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and began a “mic check” — where one protester yells…
Margaret Welsh’s top five favorite shows of 2011: Touring bands edition
Editor’s note: This weekend we’ll be dropping some best-of considerations from CP music scribes. Here’s some commentary on notable live shows from listings editor and Family Circus enthusiast Margaret Welsh! 1. Earth, June 18, Braddock Carnegie Library Theater Between the all-female Assembly of Light Choir (on tour with sludgy duo the Body), spooky loopstress O…
There’s no pleasing some people
Thought I’d share this feedback from a reader, who apparently wasn’t impressed with our “Occupy Christmas” cover of a few weeks ago … or with the Occupy movement itself. (It’s worth noting that, like so many of the letters I get here, this came in an envelope addressed in a shaky hand, with no return…
Stagehands Union to Protest at First Night
Earlier today, I talked with Pittsburgh Cultural Trust CEO and President Kevin McMahon, who says he remains optimistic that the Trust will reach a settlement with members of IATSE Local No. 3 before New Year’s Eve, and avoid a First Night protest. The two parties have been in talks for days, and “Those conversations are…
New Year’s Eve Eve and New Year’s Eve Goings-Ons
Freddy the Yeti, from today’s Abominable Snow Jam Hey all! Here’s your rundown of notable local musical things going on this New Year’s weekend. See good music and stay safe! Tonight (Friday): — Identity X presents its annual Abominable Snow Jam at Altar Bar; it kicks off early at 5 p.m. and features My Greater…
Santorum comes from behind!
All right, I confess: I just wrote that headline because it’s a sophomoric riff on the alternative definition of Santorum. And in fact, I stole it from a comment posted on one of the zillion other online posts — including some made locally — expressing surprise and dismay that Rick “Frothy Mix” Santorum is polling…
Chaibaba releases first video
Chaibaba has been around a few years, and chances are you’ve seen members playing with another band here or there (German Shepherd, Machete, etc.). Yesterday the proggy/jammy rockers released their first video, which is beautiful and features bicycling, fire-spinning, parkour and a ton of peanut butter-and-jelly-eating. Also a few Pittsburgh music-scene cameos. Take a gander:
Elliott Sussman prepares for his first release with Reltone Records
Elliott Sussman plays a guitar, yes, and he often plays without the aid of a backing band. But he’s not your average singer-songwriter. Your average singer-songwriter doesn’t keep a kazoo on his harmonica rack, for one thing, and probably doesn’t … run around quite as much as Elliott Sussman. “What struck me about Elliott was…
Swaggnation lights up the airwaves at WRCT
When it comes to the good old-fashioned radio dial, the place to turn for the latest local and national hip hop — not to mention exclusive interviews with artists like Waka Flocka and Styles P — isn’t up the dial on one of the corporate-owned stations. It’s the weekly Swaggnation show on Carnegie Mellon University’s…
Critics’ Picks: December 29 – January 4
[POP-PUNK] + THU., DEC. 29 The story of Punchline goes back nearly 15 years; what began as a pretty lo-fi, old-school pop-punk band in Belle Vernon has since become a veritable musical franchise in Pittsburgh, with spin-offs and record labels attached. Tonight is the band’s annual holiday show, taking place at Altar Bar — friends…
CD Reviews
The Beauregards Good Try (Self-released) Poppy indie rock on the debut from the local four-piece. Fuzzy guitars and understated vocals beg for Dinosaur Jr. comparisons; the overall vibe ranges from sprawling and epic to energetic and fun. Occasionally sloppy, but especially cohesive for a first release. (Though some of the members played together previously). Good…
Bright Ideas for a New Year: A few ideas to improve our region in 2012 and beyond
In many cases there’s no better time for a fresh start than Jan. 1. The calendar resets, the seasons reset and since we’re still on a post-holiday high, we’re more susceptible to new ideas. Here are six bright ideas that we think could make our city and our region a little better in 2012. Mandatory…
Savage Love
I am a 25-year-old gay man. Although I have always accepted my homosexuality, recently I have been going through a hard time psychologically because I’m exposing myself to very graphic homophobic online content. There are blogs, online groups and websites that cater to gay men who like to be abused and degraded by “straight” men.…
False Choice: Deception prevails on abortion law
If there’s one message our Republican-dominated state government has sent this year, it’s this: All life is precious … as long as someone else is paying the bill. Days before Christmas, Gov. Tom Corbett quietly signed a measure placing burdensome new rules on clinics that perform abortions. Under the new law, such clinics are to…
Honor Roll Reversal
This fall, Pittsburgh City Council passed a reform that members may find more constrictive than an outright ban on campaign contribution. Councilors agreed to limit the number of proclamations they can issue at any given meeting, to two proclamations each. Proclamations honor local personages or reflect pet causes; they typically involve designating a day of…
Diamond Market
Diamond Market 430 Market St., Downtown. 412-325-2000 Hours: Daily 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Prices: Appetizers, sandwiches and salads $6-14; Entrees vary nightly Liquor: Full Bar Now seems as good a time as any to reveal that we have a couple of pet peeves when it comes to dining out. One is being expected to pack our…
Deflating the Bubbly
Looking to try something a little different this New Year’s Eve? Usher in 2012 by hoisting a glass of something other than champagne. “Sparkling wines from Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. give France a run for the money by producing some fantastic wines that are often less expensive than their French…
A review of The Water Books, a new collection by poet Judith Vollmer
.greybg { background-color: #CCC; padding:10px; } Water indeed courses through The Water Books, local poet Judith Vollmer’s fine fourth collection of poetry. It appears as rain, ocean and the contents of garden bucket; as dinner beverage, secret mystic aquifer, Monongahela River water. In one poem, Vollmer impressionistically traces the course of the Youghiogheny River; in…
Strip District Meats
For his own part, Ray Turkas Jr. doesn’t have fancy tastes. “I enjoy a steak,” he says. But Strip District Meats is all about the customer. “In 40 years of doing this,” Turkas says, “I’ve filled a lot of unusual requests. If people want rhino toenails, I want to find them.” So alongside conventional products…
Felix de la Concha offers an impressive exhibit of paintings of one building: Fallingwater.
Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1937 summer house for department-store magnate Edgar J. Kaufmann and family, has been much photographed but little painted. Until, that is, Felix de la Concha, a former resident of Pittsburgh currently dividing his time between Iowa City and his native Spain, accepted the invitation to an extended residency with unprecedented access…
Short List: December 29 – January 3
New Years’ Eve falls on a Saturday this year. And you know what that means: Two full days to recover from, um, staying up all the way till midnight. The annual Pittsburgh Cultural Trust festival of art, performance, activities and spectacles known as Highmark First Night Pittsburgh offers enough to keep you running at least…
Working the Red Eye, Pittsburgh to Vegas
The man in the emergency exit row has been drinking from his own bottle of duty-free vodka and because he was quiet about it, kept his clothes on, and didn’t hit his call button even once no one notices until we land in Vegas and he refuses to get off the plane. He’s sure we…
Ron Placone spices his annual year-end comedy show with sketches and music.
Ron Placone has been promoting his Holiday HAHA Comedy Show with a photo of a drunken Santa Claus lying in a gutter. That gives you some idea of the tone cultivated at this annual end-of-year gig. The Dec. 30 show is a mix of standup and sketch comedy and music, by Placone and guests. It…
Take Shelter
Early on in Jeff Nichol’s slow-burning Take Shelter, a co-worker tells Curtis (Michael Shannon) that he’s lucky to have a good life. And Curtis does have a steady job, a loving wife and daughter, a dog and a cozy home in rural Ohio. But things aren’t good with Curtis: He’s been having nightmares that suggest…
2011 Films of Note
The following round-up is hardly definitive; after all, I still haven’t seen Mr. Popper’s Penguins. But loosely organized, here are the films that entertained me somehow this year. There were illuminating biographies about a metal god (Lemmy), iconoclastic photographer (Bill Cunningham: New York) and Formula 1 driver (Senna). Plus, two provocative essays from South America:…
Tension continues between stagehands union and First Night organizers
Last week, I.A.T.S.E. Local No. 3 announced that it would “banner” the First Night celebration to protest the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s use of outside labor for the event. But the union’s business agent, Robert Brown, told City Paper this morning that he’s hopeful the Trust and the union can come to an agreement and avoid…
