Concert Announcements: New shows coming to Pittsburgh
Stay up-to-date with your favorite artists and musicians coming to Pittsburgh. Each week, Pittsburgh City Paper will bring you the most recent concert announcements so you never miss a show. Toots and the Maytals. Tue., June 4. Roxian Theatre, McKees Rocks. JUST ANNOUNCED: Legendary reggae act Toots and the Maytals head to the Roxian Theatre…
Black Bottom Film Festival begins at Row House Cinema
The Black Bottom Film Festival was created in the name of Pittsburgh playwright August Wilson’s work, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Now in its third year, the festival’s main programming is still held at the August Wilson Cultural Center but has expanded to include a lineup of films screening at Row House Cinema. Look for a…
See the Mona Lisa and more at Carnegie Science Center’s Da Vinci The Exhibition
It’s a busy morning at the Carnegie Science Center as groups of kids explore Da Vinci The Exhibition, an extensive look inside the mind of the original Renaissance man. Housed on two floors, the show (opening Sat., Feb. 16) includes more than 60 life-size reproductions of Da Vinci’s many inventions, all created by the team at…
Pittsburgh Grooveline: Thu., Feb. 14-Wed. Feb. 20
Each week, Pittsburgh City Paper compiles a list of Pittsburgh dance parties for you and your crew to bust loose to the best bangers, EDM, pop hits, and more. (All events are 21 and over unless otherwise stated.) Thu., Feb. 14 Function Launch Party at Scenario. 10 p.m. 1005 East Carson St., South Side. Free.…
Post-Gazette labor union officially files NLRB complaint against publisher John Block
An alleged tirade by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette publisher John Block has led to a firestorm at Pittsburgh’s largest newspaper. The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, the union that represents P-G employees, stated earlier in the week that Block “went berserk” over the weekend. Block allegedly threatened and shouted at employees at the P-G, apparently upset over a…
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette union releases four eye-witness accounts of Block tirade
The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, representing the newsroom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, stated earlier this week that its publisher and editor-in-chief John Robinson Block “went berserk” last weekend and that they were concerned for the staff’s safety. Today, union president Michael A. Fuoco emailed CP statements from four Guild witnesses who shared their accounts of the…
Pennsylvania solar jobs increased amidst a national decline
Jobs in the solar industry have declined nationwide for the second year in a row — though that trend isn’t true for many individual states, and Pennsylvania is one of them. According to the 2018 National Solar Jobs Census, released by The Solar Foundation Tuesday, jobs in the solar industry declined nationally by 3.2 percent…
Carnegie Library launches new digital music streaming platform STACKS
Followers of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh on social media may remember a call for submissions back in September. From Sept. 17-Oct. 8, local musicians were asked to send their music to the library for a chance to be added to a living music collection. Pittsburgh musicians! Help us build a living music collection available…
Black History Month: Curtis Mayfield’s music is as relevant as ever
Part of Pittsburgh City Paper’s month-long celebration of Black History Month Heralded as one of the most influential and politically conscious musicians of his time, Curtis Mayfield’s music is an elegant juxtaposition of sadness, hope, and social commentary. Throughout his professional career, Mayfield detailed the tragedy he witnessed firsthand, growing up in 1950s Chicago public…
Late Night At The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It’s 4:55 p.m. on February 14th, and I’m about to hang up my pen for the day. As the editorial cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I’ve had a long week of drawing cartoons about how women are stupid, and it’s time for some much needed R&R. The hallway is empty as I head for the…
The Valentine’s Pudding Wrestling Massacre returns for its 10th anniversary
When Ashley Ryon first thought up one of Pittsburgh’s messiest events, the Valentine’s Pudding Wrestling Massacre, it came from an unsurprising place: her time living in Las Vegas 12 years ago. “One of my girlfriends that I worked with said there was a bar on the strip that had mud wrestling and she’s like, ‘you…
The Story of Us is a Hallmark Valentine’s special about city planning
For every holiday, there is a Hallmark movie where people fall in love on or around the special day. Holidays were practically invented by Hallmark! Or something like that. City Paper watched a whole bunch of them around Christmas time, so when I saw there were Valentine’s Day movies, I hopped back on the saddle.…
CBD, irritable bowel syndrome, and a robot called CannaBot™
Hemp-derived cannabidiol, aka CBD, is all the rage in holistic medicine. Products litter shelves of health stores and users swear that CBD helps combat several ailments like anxiety, pain, and insomnia. But serious research into the product has yet to be completed, so the medical community has remained somewhat skeptical on CBD’s effectiveness. Compassionate Certification Centers…
Lynn Cullen Live – 2/12/19
Video Archive It’s Tuesday, so that means Lynn is joined by her sister Susan. To start things off they are discussing an either or poll found in the New York Times. The question is whether you would prefer to have permanently slippery feet or permanently sticky hands. They both land on the side of slippery…
Black History Month: August Wilson Cultural Center forges ahead with rebrand
Part of our month-long celebration of Black History Month Say goodbye to the August Wilson Center, and say hello to the August Wilson Cultural Center (AWCC), a new vision for the art institution that settled in Downtown Pittsburgh 10 years ago. Yesterday, the organization officially announced the launch of its new name and an upcoming…
#MusicMonday Wrap-up: Feb. 11
Every Monday, CP staff writer Jordan Snowden wraps up the weekend in local and national music news with #MusicMonday. Here’s what went down in the past few days. Two events are flooding social media timelines in Pittsburgh: The Grammys and Pittsburgh Very Own show at Mr. Smalls Theatre. At the Grammy awards, country music duo…
Giveaway: Submit a Café Photo for a Chance To Win Two Tickets to Cirque Mechanics!
Calling all café lovers! Submit your café photo for a chance to win tickets to Cirque Mechanics!
Former Penn Plaza resident and housing advocate Mabel Duffy passes away at 79
One of the most recognized photographs in the story of affordable housing and gentrification in East Liberty is of two former Penn Plaza residents, sitting on an old couch in the middle of an East Liberty intersection. It was taken during a 2017 protest against public subsidies to market-rate housing developments. The women are holding…
Black History Month: Dawn Lundy Martin leads the innovative Center for African American Poetry and Poetics
Part of our month-long celebration of Black History Month The University of Pittsburgh has long had a vibrant poetry community, but the school, and the city for that matter, has not always encouraged or embraced writers of color. In 2016, a few professors decided to change that, founding the Center for African American Poetry and…
Lynn Cullen Live – 2/11/19
Video Archive Lynn watched the Grammys last night, and says she never feels more out of it than listening to the music she is not familiar with. Mostly she enjoyed it, and really got a kick out of how out of the loop she really is with popular music. It looks like we’re heading for…
Butler Eagle pulls Non Sequitur cartoon from Sunday pages
On Sunday, the nationally-syndicated cartoon Non Sequitur, penned by cartoonist Wiley Miller, included an Easter Egg in its strip: a scribbled insult to President Trump that included profanity. Butler Eagle, who owns Pittsburgh City Paper, announced Sunday it was dropping the cartoon from its Sunday comics. “It has nothing to do with Trump,” General Manager Ron…
Black History Month: Pittsburgh’s role in the Underground Railroad
Part of Pittsburgh City Paper’s month-long celebration of Black History Month The work of Black Lives Matter activists will go down in history as helping to keep police and lawmakers accountable for their actions towards the treatment of Black people in our country. Here in Pittsburgh, hundreds took to the streets just last year after 17-year-old…
Black History Month: Why we all should read Roxane Gay
Part of our month-long celebration of Black History Month Seeing a book called Bad Feminist, or Hunger — A Memoir of (My) Body, can be off-putting to those uninterested in reading about feminism or body image. When choosing books to read, we tend to be drawn towards literature that reaffirms our beliefs. I’m no different —…
Gab Around ‘Tahn
Scott, OaklandMac Miller. Definitely Mac Miller. I just heard a lot of really good things about him as a person, and people I know who knew him said he was just, like, a really good guy. John, East Liberty Randy Baumann from the WDVE Morning Show. Because he’s a really funny guy, and the stories…
Op-Ed: Bend the Arc Pittsburgh responds to President Trump’s State of the Union address
President Trump, On Tuesday night, you spoke before the nation and said the state of our union is strong. Here in Pittsburgh, we are strong, but our state is still fragile. The bravery of Officer Matson and the resilience of Judah Samet demonstrate Pittsburgh’s strength in the face of hatred and violence. But make no…
This week’s tastiest food stories in Pittsburgh
Seed Swap Calling all gardeners! Grow Pittsburgh, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden, and The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh are coming together for one big seed swap. Bring all of your loose — well, preferably packaged — seeds, perennials, seedlings, plant cutlets, or live plants to CLP-Oakland on Feb. 23 for the big swap. Gardeners, farmers,…
Black History Month: Documentary screening on famed civil-rights lawyer Wendell Freeland
Part of Pittsburgh City Paper’s month-long celebration of Black History Month Wendell Freeland is an icon in Pittsburgh’s civil-rights world. The lawyer’s work included integrating the Highland Park swimming pool, representing clients who couldn’t pay, and getting local schools to hire Black teachers. On top of that, he also flew with the famed Tuskegee Airmen…
Dinner series Marriage Trumps All matches immigrants with U.S. citizens
Chef Tunde Wey wants his diners to find love. Wey is the artist behind dinner series Marriage Trumps All, a two-night event in collaboration with City of Asylum and the August Wilson Center. The dinner, coinciding with the AWC exhibit Familiar Boundaries. Infinite Possibilities, facilitates unions between U.S. citizens and immigrants. It sits somewhere between an…
Concert Announcements: New shows coming to Pittsburgh
Stay up-to-date with your favorite artists and musicians coming to Pittsburgh. Each week, Pittsburgh City Paper will bring you the most recent concert announcements so you never miss a show. Starship Mantis, Benji., DJ Femi. Sat., April 20. Thunderbird Cafe & Music Hall, Lawrenceville. JUST ANNOUNCED: @RoxianLivePGH and @GreyAreaPGH present Pittsburgh's infamous @starshipmantis, bringing their…
Lynn Cullen Live – 2/8/19
Video Archive First up on today’s show Lynn is discussing Jeff Bezos. He is accusing the National Enquirer publisher of extortion, and blackmail due to intimate photos. As many followers know Lynn is in no way a fan of Bezos, and his business practices. In this case however, she is thrilled he is the richest…
Pa. AG Josh Shapiro sues UPMC, hopes to force them to accept all health care plans
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed a petition in Commonwealth Court today, asking the court to ensure health care giant University of Pittsburgh Medical Center “abides by its charitable obligations,” according to a press release. UPMC, a nonprofit, is the largest private employer in Pennsylvania. Since 2014, the two largest health care providers in Western…
Democratic Socialists launch local #GramTheVan campaign to combat anti-abortion efforts
Of its many goals, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Pittsburgh chapter, particularly its DSA Socialist Feminist Committee, works to promote access to safe reproductive health services. Part of that mission is raising awareness about crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) – seen by many as fake health clinics run by pro-life groups – and the threat…
Lynn Cullen Live – 2/7/19
Video Archive Lynn has a special guest to kick off the show today. Susan Stein is here to discuss her one woman show “Etty.” The entire show is drawn from Etty Hillesum’s dairies and letters from 1941 – 1943, before she died at Auschwitz at the age of 29. “Etty” will be in town from…
Horror movie renaissance comes at the perfect time for Pittsburghers trying to keep George A. Romero’s legacy alive
While most of the characters in his movies are the reanimated and diseased dead, a group of Pittsburghers wants to ensure George A. Romero’s legacy stays alive and healthy — and the horror genre’s recent revitalization is likely to be a big help. Romero, a Pittsburgh-based filmmaker known for his socially conscious horror movies that…
Lynn Cullen Live – 2/6/19
Video Archive Lynn is being joined by Susan once again today. First up they are talking about last night’s State of the Union Address. They are praising the Democratic women who wore white, and sat together in a show of unity. Two things in particular made Lynn scream, the statement that people coming across our…
Oakland residents react to proposed 14-story, mixed-use building between Forbes and Fifth
Travel into Central Oakland along Forbes Avenue and see an onslaught of new construction along the historic corridor. An oversized SkyVue building acts as something of a gateway, but not advantageously, as it crowds both the sidewalk and the skyline with its 14-story bulk. Though applauded by key community groups for its needed residential capacity…
Top 5 NPR Tiny Desk Performances
Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals Before watching this performance, listen to any Anderson .Paak song to get a baseline of what he sounds like via recording. Not only does his voice sound that same live, his personality commands the stage Tiny Desk area. His presence is energy-giving, and take notice of his hands: while…
Etty finds new meaning in Holocaust victim’s diaries
When Susan Stein bought the published diaries of Etty Hillesum for 50 cents at a yard sale in 1994, they had no way of knowing how much the work would impact them. It’s especially surprising given how they initially reacted to the work, an account of a 29-year-old Holocaust victim’s life up until she died…
Tipsy on kombucha, not bad
Can you get buzzed from drinking kombucha? This question started as a joke in the Pittsburgh City Paper office. The fermented tea found in Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and pretty much any grocery store is known for being ever-so-slightly alcoholic. But most commercialized kombucha has a maximum alcohol content of 0.5 percent, meaning there are…
What triggers a foot fetish?
Dear Jessie, From what I have seen online, I have the sense that foot fetishism, including smelling feet and tickling, is quite common in men. Is it? Is it more common in men than in women? What triggers these desires in a man? Max Dear Max, While I do not have any stats about what…
Q&A with author Jonah Winter
Jonah Winter grew up in a Texas home filled with art. His parents were artists and it wasn’t unusual to have their peers, such as Claes Oldenburg or Andy Warhol, visit the family home. With experiences like that, it’s no wonder that Winter grew up to become an award-winning children’s writer. One of the pioneers…
BOOM Concepts puts a twist on performance art with Puppet Karaoke
Confession time: everyone secretly loves karaoke. Whether it’s belting it out in the car or jamming in the shower, singing is a liberating activity. Getting in front of an audience and vocalizing, however, is a different story. BOOM Concepts is trying to make the act more approachable by adding puppets to the equation. The Garfield…
2019 Oscar nominations for Animated Short are a melancholic collection that deal with parenthood and heartbreak
The Animated Short category at the Oscars offers a chance for riskier and more experimental movies to shine. The full-length animated feature category is usually reserved for the most popular animated features of the year, which certainly includes some incredible films, like Coco, and Shrek, but it also includes less honorable ones, like Kung Fu…
Vivo Kitchen keeps getting better
“Contemporary American” restaurants typically sit in a gray area, ping-ponging between traditional and trendy with no surprises and little innovation. And while Vivo Kitchen in Sewickley identifies itself as “contemporary American,” the restaurant offers many surprises. Dishes seem to be created with no culinary map in mind, delivering a medley of ideas. But traveling the…
New photography exhibit at The Frick captures a flourishing, but fleeting moment in French photography
Photography flourishes most significantly when a new piece of technology is invented to make it easier and cheaper to capture fleeting scenes. It happened when smartphones became commonplace, enabling most people to have a high-quality camera at all times. At the beginning of the 20th century, the invention and growing popularity of portable film cameras…
Action Camp rings in their 13th anniversary with teenage-tragedy ballads
If Action Camp were a person instead of a band, they would be full of teenage angst, tears, and agony. “It’s kind of crazy, we’re at the point now where our band is technically in seventh grade,” says Bengt Alexsander, Action Camp co-founder, guitarist, and vocalist. To celebrate the step into teenhood, the trio…
7 Days of Concerts
Thursday Harry Jay, Miette Hope, Cypress Music, The Summercamp 7 p.m. Ethik Clothing Co., South Side. facebook.com/thesummercampmusic Friday Legendary Album Series: Bob Marley 7 p.m. The Rex Theater, South Side. rextheater.net Saturday Skellism *Final Cruze Event* 8 p.m. Cruze Bar, Strip District. facebook.com/cruzebar Sunday Trio Cassatt 3 p.m. Heinz Memorial Chapel, Oakland. heinzchapel.pitt.edu Monday Erin…
Free Will Astrology
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Can you sit on your own head? Not many people can. It requires great flexibility. Before comedian Robin Williams was famous, he spontaneously did just that when he auditioned for the role of the extraterrestrial immigrant Mork, the hero of the TV sitcom Mork and Mindy. The casting director was impressed…
A snapshot of four generations of a Black American family
Walking up the stairs of my father’s house, you’re greeted with black and white photographs from various historical moments — recognizable people and places. The Negro League Baseball teams of the 20th century, jazz great Ahmad Jamal as a child, and Sarah Vaughan sipping champagne with the Nicholas Brothers. However, when you reach the top…
Preview: Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s The Great Gatsby
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre artistic director Terrence Orr is taking another bet with the company’s new ballet adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. PBT already has three versions of the ballet in its repertoire dating back to 1987, with the last John McFall and Lauri E. Stallings’ interpretation performed by the company…
Second Saturdays returns to the Space Upstairs
Before 2018, Second Saturdays at The Space Upstairs had unchoreographed spontaneity and energy unlike any venue in the city. These events were built around improvisation and interaction, giving the performances an unpredictable, organic air. It was about engaging with a moment, being present, confident, and open to possibilities. They were an integral part of Pittsburgh’s…
Debate over unionized graduate students comes to Pitt
Since the nation’s first graduate student union was formed in Wisconsin in 1969, a debate has raged over whether those unions are good for colleges. Now, the debate has come to the University of Pittsburgh. Pitt’s Graduate Student Organizing Committee (GSOC), which formed in 2016, cites higher wages, more academic freedom, and other needs as…
At 101, Ernest Hemingway’s friend and biographer finishes his adaptation of The Old Man and the Sea
Sixty years ago, Ernest Hemingway walked out of the film adaptation of his book The Old Man and The Sea. The story goes that Hemingway went to the movie with his friend and biographer A.E. Hotchner, hated what he saw, and asked his friend to write a better adaptation for the stage. Now at the…
