Taking a Leak on Academic Inquiry
Clearly it’s taking more and more for me to emerge from my torpor and blog these days. But I can’t let this Pitt News story pass without comment: A number of Pitt professors and administrators warned students last week against sharing controversial information released by WikiLeaks — especially if they have aspirations to work for…
MP3 Tuesday: Thelonious Stretch
Hey blog people! Sorry for the delay; I know MP3 Monday usually comes on Mondays, but this week it’s happening on Tuesday. Deal with it. This week’s offering is a quick hit from local MC Thelonious Stretch, host of this week’s Rhyme Calisthenics show at Shadow Lounge (which you can read about in tomorrow’s CP)…
Port Authority gets bailout from divided commission
The Port Authority got its bailout last night: The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission approved diverting $45 million in discretionary funds and staving off the biggest service reduction in the transit agency’s history. The commission approved the move on a 27 to 22 vote. Gov. Ed Rendell announced two weeks ago that the $45 million was available.…
Michael Phillip Edwards’ runt
One interesting beat in this well-crafted one-man show is how the title is explicated. A “runt,” in the usage of the rural Jamaican grandfather Edwards lived with as a child, isn’t the smallest critter in the litter (as I’d always thought). Rather, among dogs at least, it’s the one lowest in status — the one…
Food and Drink
Best New Restaurant Salt of the Earth, Garfield 2nd: Spoon, East Liberty 3rd: Avenue B, Shadyside Best Restaurant To Taste Something New Tamari, Lawrenceville 2nd: Salt of the Earth, Garfield 3rd (tie): Abay, East Liberty, and Yo Rita, South Side Best Family Restaurant Eat’n Park, multiple locations 2nd: Kings, multiple locations 3rd: Bucca di Beppo,…
Doubling Down
“Best of” results too familiar to you? Roll the dice with these recommendations by the City Paper staff.
New venue Stage AE opens with Girl Talk and plenty of Pittsburgh pride
While Girl Talk proceeded to make “Thriller” new again, I wandered around, then came back — curious to learn whose box seats I’d violated.
Savage Love
I am a woman in a relatively new relationship. Prior to this guy, I had a deep disgust for anything anal-related. After some dedicated work and anilingus on his part, he’s helped me overcome my fears of the “grossness” of the area and made me an enthusiastic convert — as a recipient. He has expressed…
Goods and Services
Best Local Bookstore Caliban Book Shop, Oakland 2nd: Joseph-Beth Booksellers, South Side (now closed) 3rd: Eljay’s Used Books, South Side Best Store To Buy Comics Phantom of the Attic, Oakland and Monroeville 2nd: Eide’s Entertainment, Strip District 3rd: Copacetic Comics Company, Polish Hill Best Local Store To Buy Music Paul’s Compact Discs, Bloomfield 2nd: Dave’s…
Doubling Down
“Best of” results too familiar to you? Roll the dice with these recommendations by the City Paper staff.
Short List: Week of December 9 – 16
At Christmastime, tradition is relative. For instance, our consumer-maniacal version, though now standard, is decades rather than centuries old. Fortunately, starting this week, local stages connect you to Yuletide doings both nouveau and ancien. To wit: Those who like things all gleamy and poppy, yet adorably wholesome, can settle in for the Straight No Chaser…
Mike Doyle on Democratic opposition to tax compromise
Pittsburgh congressman Mike Doyle is among the House Democrats opposing President Barack Obama’s controversial tax-cut compromise with the GOP. “This has been brewing for quite some time,” Doyle says of Democratic opposition. Not only do House Democrats question the terms of the deal, he says, but they feel they deserved a larger role in negotiating…
Culture and Nightlife
Best New Bar/ClubRound Corner Cantina, Lawrenceville 2nd: Villa, South Side 3rd: Eclipse Lounge, Lawrenceville Best Dance ClubDiesel, South Side 2nd: Shadow Lounge, East Liberty 3rd: Whim, Station Square Best Hop Bar/ClubBrillobox, Bloomfield 2nd: Shadow Lounge, East Liberty 3rd: Round Corner Cantina, Lawrenceville Best Strip ClubCheerleaders, Strip District 2nd: Blush, Downtown 3rd: Cricket Lounge, Oakland Best…
Safe Bets
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? Let’s hope so. For years, Las Vegas was among the fastest-growing cities in the country … but more recently, it’s been among those hardest hit by the recession. All that explosive growth proved to be little more than a mirage. Stolid old Pittsburgh, by comparison, holds up pretty…
Write-In Candidates
Voters in our “Best of Pittsburgh” poll also created their own ballot entries. Here are some categories they’d like to see — and the winners they’d pick.
Best CSA/Farm share
Penn’s Corner Farm Alliance
Best New Restaurant
Salt of the Earth
Best Bar For Drinking Alone
Jack’s on Carson
Best Cocktail List
Kelly’s Bar & Lounge
Best Downtown Lunch
Mexico City
Best Gallery for Local Artists
ModernFormations
Best Place to Buy Gifts
Wildcard
Best Sports Bar
Jerome Bettis’ Grille 36
Best Vintage Furniture Store
Who New? Retro-Mod Décor
Best Metal Band
Hero Destroyed
Best Restaurant for Meat Lovers
Green Forest Churrascaria
Best Place to Buy Smokes
The Leaf and Bean Company
Best Restaurant for a Vegan Treat
Quiet Storm
Best Wine List
The Wine Loft Pittsburgh
Best Seafood Restaurant
Monterey Bay Fish Grotto
Best Noodles
Lu Lu’s Noodles
Best Bar for Pub Games
Silky’s
Best Restaurant for Spring Rolls
Tram’s Kitchen
Best Hot Dog
D’s Six Pax & Dogz
Best Local Clothing Designer
Angie Fec for Sew Addicted
Best Local Bookstore
Caliban Book Shop
Best Jazz/Blues Band or Performer
Olga Watkins Band
Best Place For Frozen Treats
Oh Yeah! Ice Cream and Coffee Co.
Best Bicycle Shop
Thick Bikes
Best Bartender
Mark Miller, Monterey Pub
Best Barber Shop
Dan Cercone Barber Shop
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen
The conflict between a strong, eccentric female figure and church hierarchy is, unfortunately, a trope with great currency — and a long history. Margarethe von Trotta’s Vision is a biopic about Hildegard of Bingen, a visionary (and intellectual) Catholic saint who at times was at odds with her male counterparts in the German church. Hildegard…
Kings of Pastry
Documentarians D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus (The War Room) turn their cameras on the very serious pursuit of French pastry, following three chefs as they prepare for and compete in the three-day contest for the coveted Meilleur Ouvrier de France medal. The filmmakers employ their stripped-down doc style, and I’d have liked a little more…
Parking Fee
Hill group wants $1 for every car parked by the Pens
Film Kitchen highlights “random encounters” with surprising revelations.
Carolina Loyola-Garcia’s “Hibridos sin Lineaje” opens with her camera amongst the whirling skirts of some traditional dancers. Yet shortly, we’re heading down the rabbit hole, complete with a voice-over quoting Lewis Carroll’s Alice. The guide here, however, isn’t a waistcoated bunny; he’s a middle-aged miner whom Loyola-Garcia met while shooting video in an abandoned mining…
Elements Contemporary Cuisine
A phenomenal charcuterie sets this fine-dining establishment apart.
At Wood Street Galleries, a site-specific dance work incorporates movement sensors that generate sounds.
“The sound reflects the movement rather than the movement reflecting the sound.”
Stop Kiss
Tender but not tearjerkily manipulative, Stop Kiss is a warm human romance.
runt
Dazzling pyrotechnical moments are not Edwards’ only talent.
Warhol Museum director Tom Sokolowski talks about his resignation, his 15 years in town … and public sculpture in Pittsburgh.
“I felt like saying, ‘Honey, you’ve never called numbers at a bingo game at the age of 47.'”
A photo exhibition at the Frick can’t help making you think about what’s outside the frame.
These works were created in a world hell-bent on capturing Beauty.
This Just In: December 9 – 16
Highlights from the local TV news: Stale Sell
Hard Cell
Activists say jailhouse beating was a hate crime; proving it is another matter
A benefit for Anne Feeney finds Pittsburgh musicians supporting their own
The lineup packs plenty of Pittsburgh firepower, including Joe Grushecky, Liz Berlin, bluesman Billy Price, Justin Sane of Anti-Flag.
Ghostland Observatory dials up the stars with terse vibrancy of Codename: Rondo
The band plays an odd electro-rock fusion they’ve puckishly described as “Radiohead meets Gary Glitter.”
Madball helps turn hardcore’s legacy into an Empire
Despite the band’s take on British Petroleum and environmentalism in “The End,” Madball has never been particularly political.
House of 1000 Beers
357 Freeport St., New Kensington 724-337-7666 www.houseof1000beers.com Sun.-Thu. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-midnight Date Visited: Wed., Dec. 1. Years in Business: Since 2006 at its current location and function. (The establishment began as a beer distributor in 1974.) Crowd: A couple dozen convivial folk, many established “club members” (see below). Décor: Utilitarian cinder-block…
People and Places
Best Bus Route 54C 2nd: 61C 3rd: 500 Best Local Scandal Ben Roethlisberger 2nd: Luke Ravenstahl 3rd: Snowmageddon Best Pittsburgh Local Figure Sidney Crosby 2nd: Bill Peduto 3rd: Troy Polamalu Best Place To Swim Dormont Pool, Dormont 2nd: Sandcastle, West Homestead 3rd: West Penn Pool, Polish Hill Best Local Sports Moment Of The Past Year…
Doubling Down
“Best of” results too familiar to you? Roll the dice with these recommendations by the City Paper staff.
