RuPaul’s Drag Race: Alaska Watch
Alaska survives another round on RuPaul’s Drag Race, but not without a few tears
Wayne Fontana circulating mayoral petitions, adding to crowded South Hills field
Let’s hope the county is printing up more election petitions: state Sen. Wayne Fontana, a South Hills Democrat, is garnering signatures for his own potential mayoral bid. “I am not 100 percent committed to doing it at this point,” Fontana told me a short time ago. While he says he’s been encouraged to run, “Getting…
Heads Up: Morning headlines for March 5
Sorry for the past couple days’ hiatus here at Heads Up: We were sent reeling by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s decision to drop out of this year’s mayoral race. Hallmark doesn’t seem to have a card for that occasion. But you’ll be happy to know that your local media is hard at work ferreting out potential…
Lynn Cullen Live 03/05/13
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; nurse at independent living facility followed protocol & refused patient CPR when needed, patient died before ambulance got there; Good Samaritan laws; strange addictions; what’s going on at the Vatican; cool headstones; Obit: Roy Brown Jr., designer of Ford Edsel; Anne Hatha-haters; we prefer celebrities who are accessible, fallible; Callers:…
Zine Tour Hits Town
Four notable zine-makers visit The Big Idea bookstore on Wednesday. We collate and staple in Program Notes.
MP3 Monday: Good Jeans
Stream or Download “Be Quiet” from Good Jeans!
Zine Tour Hits Town
Personal-zine makers at Big Idea
Activist Scholars Discuss “History From Below”
Telling the past through the experiences of everyday people
Lynn Cullen Live 03/04/13
Video Archive What happened to early spring?; Luke Ravenstahl seems more relaxed, unburdened after his announcement about not seeking re-election; Luke’s relationship to his job as mayor; did his announcement have anything to do with the FBI investigation?; Peduto, Lamb maybe want the job a little more; will Obama cut medicare / social security?; Washington…
Mayor releases secret account expenses for security officers
Photo by Charlie Deitch Yarone Zober goes over debit card expenses with members of the media Friday, while City Solicitor Dan Regan close at hand Earlier today, mayoral chief of staff Yarone Zober provided reporters with financial records concerning debit cards used by the mayor’s bodyguards — debit cards linked to a controversial bank account…
City council president Harris “not ruling out” mayoral run
Darlene Harris City council president Darlene Harris said today she is “not ruling out” running for mayor, in the wake of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl dropping his re-election bid this morning. “I’m keeping my options open,” she tells City Paper. She said one contributing factor to whether she would run or not was her family, citing…
Stream This Ish: February 27 Issue
Stream tracks from the bands featured in this week’s City Paper!
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl drops re-election bid
Citing the “grueling demands” of his office and “significant sacrifice,” Mayor Luke Ravenstahl today announced that he is dropping his bid for re-election. “After a careful and considerable amount of thought I have decided that that price has become too great to endure,” Ravenstahl said, with his parents by his side. “As a result ……
Live chat of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s press conference
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Frank Lloyd Wright Opera is Staged
Opera Theater of Pittsburgh is staging an opera about the famed architect tomorrow night at the Father Ryan Arts Center. More about this preview of the troupe’s annual SummerFest in Program Notes.
Ravenstahl schedules press conference for 11 a.m.
According to a release from the Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s office, he will address the media this morning at 11 a.m. City Paper will be there to bring you the latest. Follow @charliedee71 on Twitter for live tweets from the event.
Frank Lloyd Wright Opera is Staged
Pittsburgh Opera Theater previews its SummerFest tomorrow night with a one-night staging of Shining Brow: An Opera About Frank Lloyd Wright. The show’s in a new venue for the Opera Theater, The Father Ryan Arts Center, in McKees Rocks. The 1993 opera dramatizes events between 1903 and 1914 — pre-Fallingwater — as the legendary architect…
Lynn Cullen Live 03/01/13
Video Archive Phone guest: Chris Potter; Luke Ravenstah’s press conference today; Luke not seeking re-election; reasons for not seeking re-election; what this means for Peduto & Lamb; sequestration has begun; Dennis Rodman & Kim Jong Un are new BFFs; ping pong opened up China, maybe the Globetrotters will do the same for North Korea; CEO…
Heads-up for cultured cheapos!
FYI! Starting next week and continuing through the end of March, the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History will be offering free admission on Thursday evenings. The special applies Thursdays between 4 and 8 p.m. Parking will be $5, and on March 21, the zero-dollar price includes admission to the CMOA Culture Club series.…
Catch up with the new cable drama The Americans
New FX drama The Americans worth checking out
Artist Talks at Center for the Arts
A series of artist talks about exhibits at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts begins tonight. Details in Program Notes.
Artist Talks at Center for the Arts
As usual, there are a ton of artists showing work right now at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Starting tonight, the artists and artist teams represented in the ten exhibits will be showing up to discuss their work. Tonight’s first set of talkers include Stephen Chalmers, whose grittily lyrical photos of people with no fixed…
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Feb. 28
Prelude to a flip-flop? To date, Gov. Tom Corbett has sounded distinctly downbeat about the prospects for the state expanding Medicaid under the provisions of Obamacare. But as fellow Republican wankers have taken that step — New Jersey’s Chris Christie being the latest — Corbett has now announced plans to meet with Kathleen Sibelius, the…
Lynn Cullen Live 02/28/13
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski; goodbye to February…and the Pope!; Vatican cloisters not unlike prison, men have urges; Ravenstahl missing important events, is he questioning backing out of the mayoral race?; Nixon guest starred on Laugh-In; Laugh-In producer had big plans for Lynn; Luke got a lap dance; tension between Obama & Boehner; more buzz…
Films at CMU: Bond Fest
Four actors tackle James Bond, in this week’s CMU films.
Film-makers: Call for entries, Johnstown Film Fest
Johnstown Film Festival call for short-film entries; deadline is May 1.
Community groups call for input into selection of new police chief
A coalition of groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Black Political Empowerment Project today called for community input in the search for a new police chief and the qualities/agenda he or she should possess. “This is a healing moment,” said Tim Stevens, executive director of B-PEP, citing recent turmoil in the…
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Feb. 27
Pittsburgh City Council — where the motto is “better late than never” — is now proposing that funds from police secondary details be transferred out of the police bureau itself, and be handling by the city’s finance director instead. And because I know you’ve been wondering … yes, former state Auditor General Jack Wagner is…
On the Record with Jessica Numsuwankijkul of Heliotropes
HELIOTROPES with SHOCKWAVE RIDERZ. 9:30 p.m. Thu., March 7. 6119 6119 Penn Ave. East Liberty. $8. 18 and over. facebook.com/6119Penn A Craigslist ad looking for musicians to play some Brian Eno songs was all it took to assemble the Brooklyn-based shoegaze band Heliotropes. The band’s lead singer and guitarist, Jessica Numsuwankijkul, shared some thoughts with…
Point Park band Nevada Color goes indie rock, gets some attention
When Point Park University students Max Kovalchuk and Chris Cichra started composing new material for their folk-pop group Paper Politicians last summer, the duo realized a freshly penned guitar part blatantly deviated from the genre. Instead of scrapping the chords, they scrapped the band. “We wanted to do something different,” Kovalchuk said. “We wanted to…
WFMU DJ broadcasts from Squirrel Hill — and saves the stream during Sandy
Give the Drummer Some airs Tuesdays, 6-7 p.m. and Fridays, 9 a.m.-noon. Listen to archives at www.wfmu.org/Playlists/Doug/ or Give the Drummer Radio at wfmu.org/wfmu_drummer.pls For a time on Oct. 30, the program that fans of New Jersey’s WFMU-FM heard was not broadcast from the station’s then-powerless studios A, B or C in Jersey City —…
Critics’ Picks: February 27 – March 5
[SYNTH POP] + WED., FEB. 27 Shiny Toy Guns made a name for itself early on in the 2000s with its irresistibly dancey synth beats, so it only made sense for the band to keep it going through the 2010s. In 2008, there was a brief split with vocalist Carah Faye, but she was brought…
New Releases
Good Jeans Amusement (Self-released) Good Jeans is the work of one guy, Derek January. This release is five tracks of atmospheric synth-pop and mid-paced dancey stuff with psychedelic elements. A good first effort, and a decent listen for those into the popular crop of post-Stereolab synth-heavy artists. Wil Kondrich Faded Dreams (Self-released) Five songs recorded…
Local comic Alex Stypula offends to please.
ALEX STYPULA headlines The Darker Side of Comedy. Hosted by Ray Zawodni and featuring Shannon Norman, John Dick Winters and James J. Hamilton. 10:30 p.m. Sat. March 2. Club Café 56-58 12th St. South Side. clubcafelive.com In the front row, perched at a hightop bar table, sit three audience members: a thirtysomething guy, his girlfriend…
Target Practice: Mayor says he’s not a target in a federal investigation. Does that mean he’s out of the woods?
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl wanted to make one thing very clear last week at a Feb. 20 press conference announcing the resignation of Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper. Although a federal investigation of the Bureau of Police was taking place, he said, “I am not a target.” For Pittsburghers alarmed by recent headlines, that was a…
Amazing Grace
BLACK GRACE performs 8 p.m. Sat., March 2. Byham Theater 101 Sixth St. Downtown. $19-$48. 412-456-6666 or trustarts.org In the tough neighborhood where Black Grace artistic director/choreographer Neil Ieremia grew up, dancing didn’t figure into everyday life. The son of Samoan parents living in New Zealand, Ieremia says he was exposed to traditional Polynesian singing…
Secret recipe
Allegheny County Health Department officials are once again trying to establish an A-B-C grading system to rate the cleanliness and safety of county restaurants. But as a new approach is being cooked up, the public is being told to stay out of the kitchen. The regulations are being crafted behind closed doors, by a working…
Chess at Point Park Conservatory
CHESS continues through March 3. Pittsburgh Playhouse 222 Craft Ave. Oakland. 412-392-8000 or pittsburghplayhouse.com The ’80s weren’t a good time for anyone: the fashions, Reagan, big hair, etc. And in no area was the barrel’s bottom scraped more than musical theater. We’re talking Andrew Lloyd Webber, Les Miz, Miss Saigon, et al. By 1989, there…
Where the Gas Goes
“America’s Energy Starts Here” is Consol Energy’s motto. Chesapeake Energy calls itself “America’s Champion of Natural Gas.” Range Resource’s “My Range Resources” campaign features wholesomely weathered rural Americans. Does the natural-gas industry have a thought besides keeping our nation’s furnaces lit, and its power plants and petrochemical factories running? Even President Obama chimes in. In…
Carnegie Mellon’s Spring Awakening
SPRING AWAKENING continues through March 2. Philip Chosky Theater Carnegie Mellon campus Oakland. $27. 412-268-2407 or drama.cmu.edu At first, Spring Awakening looks like a silly idea: Take a 1906 German stage play about promiscuous teens, add some original pop songs, and re-dub it a “rock musical.” Keep the costumes and the cringe-worthy English translation, but…
On a Roll
It’s another busy day for Nick Teodori, and the space heater’s just pitiful. Back from the printer, where he’s picked up the tickets for Roll Film — his film festival showcasing a half-century of documentaries about the All-American sport of skateboarding— he’s blowing on his hands, shaking off the cold. Burrowing into his freezing garage,…
New Horizon Theater’s Black Pearl Sings
BLACK PEARL SINGS continues through March 3. Kingsley Association 6435 Frankstown Ave. Larimer. $20. 412-661-8721 Anthropology is a tough job. On the one hand, explorers can “discover” a cultural secret, something no one else has ever seen. Conversely, anthropologists have often been accused of being arrogant, cultish and presumptuous. They make bank on the rituals…
Savage Love
I am writing about a friend. By all appearances, he is straight. However, on more than one occasion, he has gotten drunk and tried to hook up with a transvestite or a person who could have been one. In one instance, he went to a club and was approached by a really masculine-seeming girl who…
Intimate moments dominate an exhibit of classic photographic images at the Carnegie.
YOURS TRULY: PRIVATELY COLLECTED PHOTOGRAPHS continues through March 10. Carnegie Museum of Art 4400 Forbes Ave. Oakland. 412-622-3131 or cmoa.org It’s a sleeper exhibit in a sleeper space: the Carnegie Museum of Art’s sometimes overlooked but typically rewarding Gallery One, up the long steps and turn left. Yours Truly sounds sincere though a little old-fashioned,…
Short List: February 27 – March 5
Spotlight: March 1-3: Opera While The Little Sweep was billed by composer Benjamin Britten as “an entertainment for young people,” this 1949 children’s opera starts darkly: The title character is sold into servitude in 19th-century England, then bullied by his new masters. But things lighten up with the lad’s rescue by the children of a…
Jack the Giant Slayer
Jack the Giant Slayer Directed by: Bryan Singer Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor, Eleanor Tomlinson In 3-D, in select theaters. Starts Fri., March. 1 The revamped-fairy-tale genre seems to have run its course. The endless Shrek films are distant bad memories, and last year delivered two — two! — Snow White duds. So it was…
1947 Tavern
1947 Tavern 5744 Ellsworth Ave. Shadyside. 412-363-1947 Hours: Tue.-Thu. 5-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5 p.m.-midnight Prices: $5-16 Liquor: Full bar A couple of years back, local restaurant group B2 moved its old warhorse, the Elbow Room, to Walnut Street and installed a newer, hipper hangout, 1947 Tavern (named after the year of the Elbow Room’s founding)…
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
In his earlier documentaries, Werner Herzog has played both ethnographer and psychologist, seeking to understand subjects who live in the extremes. But in Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, he leaves analysis behind and just lets life happen. His film observes a contented-cum-isolated Siberian village’s subsistence culture, less Grizzly Man than Nat Geo, less…
Raw Story: Documentary looks at healing potential of raw food diet
Ellen Franty started on her raw food diet three and a half years ago. “I think one of the myths is that it’s just for hippies or odd people,” says the South Hills former nurse, who sought out a healthier lifestyle after her mother died of pancreatic cancer. “I’m a pretty conservative 48-year-old woman.” Interest…
John Dies at the End
From director Don Coscarelli (Bubba Ho-Tep) comes this horror comedy, adapted from David Wong’s book, about a pair of slackers trying to save the world from being overrun by weirdo beasties. If, like me, you’ve not read book, the story is a little confusing — but then again, that’s the point. Seriously. It helps to…
Local bartenders travel long distances to hone their skills
Bartenders in Pittsburgh’s cocktail community are constantly pushing each other’s craft forward, either through informal discussion or via monthly educational seminars with the city’s chapter of the Bartenders Guild. Sometimes, however, “You need to get out of town. You need to find out what other people are doing elsewhere,” says Bobby Fry, the owner of…
Snitch
Ric Roman Waugh’s drama pretends to care about unfair mandatory-minimum sentencing for drug trafficking. (It is very loosely based on a 1999 Frontline episode about informants.) But, halfway through this head-scratching, thrill-less bore-fest, I thought: This film is a sentence. The film’s marketing forefronts its star, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (and his giant arms), but…
After a long prep, the PGH Taco Truck is open for business
It was a journey for James Rich to open his PGH Taco Truck. When the Pittsburgh native was unemployed in 2010, he hatched a plan to open a food truck, and ended up going to Denver for the vehicle. “It was a great deal,” he recalls, “and, as I was unemployed at the time, I…
Steve Kimock leads a life on the periphery of rock
STEVE KIMOCK featuring Bernie Worrell, Wally Ingram and Andy Hess. 8 p.m. Thu., March 7. Mr. Small’s Theatre 400 Lincoln Ave. Millvale. $22.50. All ages. 412-821-4447 or mrsmalls.com After more than 30 years of flirting with the mainstream music industry, playing with members of The Grateful Dead and forming his own psychedelic projects, Steve Kimock’s…
Lynn Cullen Live 02/27/13
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; Chuck Hagel confirmed as Defense Secretary; 2/3 of Americans think the Republican party is out of touch; sequester kicks in on Friday, effects will be felt most in Republican states; Supreme Court may nix Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act today; Kathleen Kane is a babe; effects of smiling…
