Tea Partiers declare their independence — again
Earlier today, I raised the possibility that conservative tea-baggers were setting themselves up for disappointment by entering the political arena. Serendipitously enough, the Pittsburgh Tea Party Movement — a local affiliate of the national “Tea Party Patriots” organization — sent out a blast e-mail “Declaration of Indendence” around lunchtime today. [UPDATE: Based on some e-mail…
Pat Toomey: maybe those Wall Street bankers aren’t so awful after all
Courtesy of Daily Kos, we’ve got this amusing e-mail invitation to a fundraiser for Republican Senatorial candidate Pat Toomey. The e-mail touts Toomey as being potentially “one of the most pro-business, pro-growth members of the Senate,” while decrying his Democratic opponents for pursuing “a populist, anti-business agenda.” Got that, teabaggers? Pat Toomey doesn’t want any…
The Low Anthem performing tonight at Club Café
If you don’t have plans tonight, do your ears a favor and catch The Low Anthem tonight at Club Café. Last time they came through, I interviewed the band’s Ben Knox Miller and caught the show — both deceptively simple and simply stunning. Calling them an Americana group is only part of the picture. We…
Dog-on-dog action alert: Where is Rick Santorum when you need him?
We’ll have some Rick Santorum-related news later today, based on his less-than-stellar performance before the conservative faithful this weekend. But for now, though, I want to alert him to a disturbing online feature hosted over at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. This story has bestiality, online pornography, the liberal media mocking Christian values … everything you need…
Union demonstration marred by lack of unity
When labor activists called a Feb. 18 press conference outside the Mellon Arena, they intended to complain about the treatment of arena employees. Instead, though, representatives of two rival unions ended up denouncing each other. As City Paper first reported this week, 400 arena workers — representing concession stand and other employees — are being…
Buried Child
All unhappy families are unhappy in their own ways, and American theater has fonr its best to depict as many of them as possible. As Robert Isenberg notes in this week’s CP review (www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A75327) of this Point Park REP production, Sam Shepard’s 1979 Pulitzer-winner is one in a long line of such plays. (Many of…
Is there some way Mary Beth Buchanan can run as the incumbent?
As Mary Beth Buchanan struggles to find her campaigning stride, she may find herself wishing she could emulate Arlen Specter. The Republican-turned-Democratic Senator is, after all, notoriously irritable. But he’s found a way to make sure no one sees him get rattled: Avoid broadcast debates if you can. Specter has apparently declined an invitation to…
The Persecuted Prosecutor
As Dayvoe of the 2Political Junkies points out, Mary Beth Buchanan made a surprise campaign appearance on Marty Griffin’s KDKA radio show this week. Buchanan, who is challenging Democrat Jason Altmire in PA’s fourth Congressional District, called in after her nemesis, former Allegheny County Coroner Cyril Wecht, had been dogging her on Griffin’s show. Wecht…
Buchanan misfires on campaign announcement
Over at the P-G’s Early Returns blog yesterday, our pal Tim McNulty has broken news of Mary Beth Buchanan’s not-so-surprising entry into the 4th Congressional District race. Also somewhat less than entirely surprising: The press release announcing her campaign is already getting sloppy with the facts. I’m gonna leave aside most of the low-hanging fruit…
Spinning the Bottle in Jordan Miles case
Remember Jordan Miles, the CAPA student who got pummeled by police in Homewood, supposedly because the cops thought he might have a gun stowed in the pocket of his jacket? And remember how the “gun” turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Dew? Remember how Miles denied even having such a bottle — and…
Short List: Week of February 18 – 25
She had perhaps the largest audience of any poet in history when she read her “Praise Song for the Day” at the inauguration of President Barack Obama. But just as Obama asserted that the inauguration wasn’t about him, but about us, so Elizabeth Alexander says her big moment actually put the spotlight on poetry, and…
Valentine’s Day
When I tell you that Ashton Kutcher and country crooner Taylor Swift are the most entertaining aspects of this unfunny, unromantic film, heed my words: They’re simply the best of the worst. Swift plays a spastic Valley Girl-type teen, a role that at least spoofs her seemingly perfect public persona, and Kutcher gets his laughs…
The Last Station
This endless snowy weather may have you pining to curl up on the divan with, say, a gigantic Russian novel, brimming with politics and family turmoil. But allow me to offer a similar, if shorter alternative: an entertaining parlor drama about the Russian novelist, and the complications that arise from tensions between his relatives and…
The Wolfman
Actor Lawrence Talbot (Benicio del Toro) hasn’t returned to his ancestral home since he was a boy, but a letter from his brother’s fiancée, Gwen (Emily Blunt), draws him back. His brother has been horribly murdered, and yet his father, John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins), seems nonplussed. While investigating, Lawrence is attacked by the creature. Now…
Oscar-Nominated Shorts
It’s always a pleasure to relax and enjoy the short films, live action and animated, that compete for Oscars. Of course, they all try to say something, but so much has already been said that it takes a special talent to say it better. The two standouts in the live-action category include “Miracle Fish,” from…
Round Corner Cantina
A revamped Lawrenceville institution now pairs hot modern tacos with cold refreshing drinks
Comic and Pittsburgh native Jesse Joyce plays the Funny Bone.
“I’ll just start talking about it on stage and see where the funny is.”
A Pitt professor’s new book explores the roots of movie-celebrity culture in India.
“On the one hand, they want cultured ladies, but if they work in the movies, they would be talked about and no one would see it.”
Remaking the Political Map
Interested in politics, but think being a district judge is too glamorous? A party committee spot might be for you — and there are plenty available
Union Jacked
Mellon Arena workers not guaranteed jobs, or union, in new arena
Heart transplants — and the struggles of heart patients — inspired the latest by Bodiography Contemporary Ballet.
“Having the opportunity to watch a heart transplant was a spiritual experience for me.”
Noises Off
Director Ron Ferrara has done solid work grounding these characters in reality, making them much more than just stock comedy figures.
Buried Child
The troupe is a fine mix of New York talents and local faves, and like most of Shepard’s scripts, the characterizations are far more interesting than the actual story.
This Just In: February 18 – 25
Highlights from the local TV news: The Costa Advice Is Free
Race is just one part of the story in Rebecca Skloot’s real-life “medical thriller” The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
Skloot explicitly refuses to lump the story of Henrietta Lacks in with the truly heinous legacies of racist science experiments (like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment).
At the Mattress Factory, artists explore new realms of portraitures.
Tony Oursler has converted the basement to a schizophrenic sensory overload with his giant, pre-recorded, projected talking heads, each obliquely or plainly considering cosmetic surgery.
DIY venue The Mr. Roboto Project closes its doors, hunts for new location
“We’d like to grow more, and the current space is kind of stagnant.”
South Aiken Bar & Grille
815 S. Aiken Ave., Shadyside. 412-682-6878. “You name it, we got it,” Paul Sabunani tells a Thursday-night customer over the phone. And go ahead, name it: He’s got soups, salads, jalapeño poppers, Cajun wings, quesadillas and beer-battered fish. A quarter-pound hot dog? Check. A 16-inch Hawaii Five-O specialty pizza, with bacon, pineapple and cappicola?…
State of Reform
Can Harrisburg do for health care what leaders in D.C. could not?
Melissa Ferrick’s “An Evening With” show at Club Café draws on large catalog
Though a gifted musician who spent her youth playing a variety of instruments and attending music schools, it took time for her to mature as a songwriter.
Newly formed industrial duo Black 13 performs at Most Wanted Fine Art
“A certain movie will [catalyze] a song — we’ll get a whole bunch of snippets from it and use that as our basis.”
A Conversation with St. Vincent
“I was going for something that felt cinematic and felt like Technicolor and whimsy and magic.”
Brownie Mary guitarist Rich Jacques releases CD of straight-to-soundtrack songs
The album is so airlessly professional and relentlessly likeable, you find yourself hoping for a revealing fracture, some moment of musical crisis.
Scotts Roger debuts new EP and new name: The Wreckids
“Chubby girls are better in the sack / I know I’m in for something good when baby got back,”
Chair and Chair Alike
Pittsburgh takes its snow storms sitting down
Savage Love
My boyfriend and I have agreed to abide by whatever decision you make. We’ve been together for nine months. We are gay. We live in a college town. We both found jobs here after we graduated, so we stayed. Since his sophomore year, my boyfriend has had an “arrangement” with an older man, a professor…
The Hot Button
This week’s issue: Should the city be honoring Bush’s wiretapping czar?
