Former Pittsburgh schools leader offers free tuition
During his tenure as superintendent of the Pittsburgh Public Schools, Mark Roosevelt was sometimes criticized for spending money too liberally. Now, as president of Antioch College in Yellow Spring, Ohio, he’s giving it away. On Jan. 17, Antioch announced that the small liberal arts college would provide four-year, full scholarships for every student who enrolls…
Lynn Cullen Live 01/31/12
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; warm winter weather; Burmese pythons in the Everglades, eating deer, panthers, more; warm temps in January caused 70 violent tornadoes; Romney is really obnoxious now that he’s expecting to win Florida tonight; Chelsea Clinton is a bad reporter, doesn’t deserve her new job; does anyone think that SuperPacs are a…
Gallery Crawl – Friday, January 27th 2012
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ICYMI: Snoop is at Altar Bar tonight
In one of the stranger bookings in town so far this year, Snoop Dogg — Wiz Khalifa’s co-star in the upcoming High School, and friend of “Luke Luke Ravenstahl,” is playing at Altar Bar tonight. It’s an intimate booking for the superstar, and as of right now is not yet sold out. Tickets are $60…
Lynn Cullen Live 01/30/12
Video Archive Spring flowers already starting to bloom; tomorrow is the Florida primary, Romney expected to take it; normal repubs see their party as destroying themselves; Shakespeare on the 1%; funnyordie.com axed a member’s posts for breastfeeding in her video; Aborigines attacked Australian Prime Minister on Australia Day; why Europeans are a more relaxed social…
On the Record with Nicolay: Extended Interview
Photo courtesy of Tobias Rose Nicolay We spoke with Nicolay, a Grammy-nominated producer and instrumentalist and one half of the duo Foreign Exchange, in advance of his show at Shadow Lounge Tuesday. I’ve read that you’ve worked with guitarist Chris Berner through your Foreign Exchange project, and in that project you were making more hip-hop…
Port Authority takes first step toward massive service cuts
The Port Authority of Allegheny County took the first step down the path to service cuts today, formally approving a public-comment period. Meanwhile, about 50 people demonstrated outside of the transit agency’s Downtown offices today, decrying a proposed 35 percent service reduction that would eliminate 46 bus routes, reduce remaining lines, hike fares and layoff…
Lynn Cullen Live 01/27/12
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; Newt didn’t do well last night, Santorum came out on top; State of the Union recap; no difference between a campaign & a book tour these days; Romney’s hired a new debate coach; Santorum’s mom hates Lynn; WSJ on the GOP: when you put up losers, you’re going to lose;…
EDMC insiders report layoffs underway
Layoffs are underway at Education Management Corporation (EDMC), which yesterday told City Paper and other media only that the moves were a “possibility.” Sources at the company’s offices in the Strip District and Greentree tell us that EDMC began notifying them of layoffs at around 11 this morning. EDMC officials have not responded to a…
Lynn Cullen Live 01/26/12
Video Archive No Sokolowski today; two of the 10th president’s grandchildren are still alive; Obama congratulates Panetta; photo of JoePa’s Hearse drive by – everyone is on their phone documenting instead of experiencing; Phone Guest: John Hilsman, Executive Director of AFTRA; union battles at WTAE, none of the TV stations will cover this story; reapportionment…
Jesus Hopped the A Train at barebones productions
This prison drama marks the debut local production of any work by acclaimed New York playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis; it’s actually a fairly early play (from 2000) from the man who wrote the 2011 Broadway hit The Motherfucker with the Hat, starring Chris Rock. Jesus is in its final week at the New Hazlett Theater,…
WQED-TV natural-gas roundtable is roundly criticized
Public-TV station WQED takes pride in its ongoing coverage of natural-gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. But a program scheduled for tomorrow night features a panel that critics have charged is unfairly tilted toward gas-drilling interests. The ensuing controversy has apparently led QED to erase critical comments from the Facebook site dedicated to the show.…
EDMC Downplays Talk of Layoffs
Education Management Corporation spokesperson Jacquelyn Muller told City Paper this morning that “there have been no layoffs announced” at the for-profit education company. In a written statement, Muller says the company “has begun an evaluation of the operations in an effort to better position the organization for success within the current economic and changing regulatory…
Photographer David L. Smith, RIP
Dave was a photographer of long residency in the Brew House, the South Side artists’ co-op. He was a nice guy. I remember him most for his telescope. Smith, an active member of the Association of Amateur Astronomers of Pittsburgh, had a sizable scope, perhaps 4 feet long, mounted on wheels. Once, several years ago,…
On the Record with Nicolay
NICOLAY with THE HOT AT NIGHTS 8 p.m. Tue., Jan. 31. Shadow Lounge, 5972 Baum Blvd., East Liberty. $12. 412-363-8277 or shadowlounge.net Coming off the release of the Shibuya Sessions EP, multi-instrumentalist and Grammy-nominated producer Nicolay (of The Foreign Exchange) took a minute to talk about jazz and the recording process. Tell me a little…
A Dangerous Method
David Cronenberg’s film seeks to illuminate the two pioneers of psychoanalysis — the “father,” Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), and his acolyte, Carl Jung. In the decade prior to World War I, the two agree, then disagree, before breaking up. It is Jung (Michael Fassbender) who has the more volatile path: He becomes intimately involved with…
Bach to the Future
CONSOLIDATION — AN A CAPPELLA CELEBRATION 8 p.m. Sat., Feb. 4 2 p.m. Sun., Feb. 5. Alumni Hall, Oakland. $10-25. 412-241-4044 or website A performance of the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh may not seem the most obvious place to find jazz bands, rock bands or dancers. But as one board member notes, this is not…
Vanishing ACCESS: Massive cuts planned for county’s paratransit service
Bob Lichtenfels wasn’t used to having public transit of any kind — let alone paratransit specifically designed for people living with disabilities — in his small hometown in Indiana County. “I came here for my independence,” says Lichtenfels, who is blind and came to Oakland in 1992 to attend the University of Pittsburgh. “I want…
Policy questions: Miles lawsuit raises issues about city’s undercover units
Their mission, according to police officials, is to “proactively” patrol Pittsburgh’s streets. Where there are guns and drugs, the undercover officers policing city neighborhoods in so-called “99” units are tasked with making them disappear. For more than a decade, the undercover units employed by the Pittsburgh police had operated in relative obscurity. But that changed…
Stewart O’Nan’s new novel is a funny, touching portrait of a marriage on the brink
STEWART O’NAN visits Penguin Bookshop 7 p.m. Thu., Feb. 9. 420 Beaver St., Sewickley. 412-741-3838 Stewart O’Nan is a novelist of the everyday. He’s the kind of writer who, in his 2011 novel Emily, Alone, found poetry in the daily habits of a finicky Highland Park widow. The Pittsburgh-based novelist’s latest, The Odds: A Love…
Taking a Second Look: Is the high-profile case against SCI Pittsburgh guards weaker than it seems?
In two preliminary hearings held this month, prisoners appeared before district judges to testify about alleged abuse by prison guards at the State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh. During those hearings, Assistant District Attorney Jon Pittman asked prisoners to identify in court the men who abused them — a practice familiar from countless TV courtroom dramas. …
Through the Night
THROUGH THE NIGHT Through Feb. 5. City Theatre, 1300 Bingham St., South Side. 412-421-2489 or website Equity, the stage performers’ union, published a report showing that the heartbeat of an actor delivering a monologue spikes to the same level as a pilot landing an airplane. So heaven knows the stratospheric heights hit by the pulse…
Poor Richard’s Wexford Alehouse
Poor Richard’s Wexford Alehouse 10501 Perry Highway, Wexford. 724-935-9870 Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.- midnight; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Prices: Appetizers, soups, salads and sandwiches $4-11; entrees $11-14 Liquor: Full bar Now, more than ever before, decent food is within reach of every restaurant, bar and take-out counter, be it ever so humble. Between what comes…
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM Through Feb. 4. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Homewood branch), 7010 Hamilton Ave., Homewood. 412-624-8498 or website Gertrude Pridgett was one tough bitch. Known professionally as Ma Rainey, she was dubbed the Mother of the Blues — an important voice in African-American culture, now largely forgotten. Perhaps Ma’s reputation — as…
Soup For You
It’s perfectly OK to subscribe to the General Sisters Winter Soup Delivery just for the soup. You’ll love weekly offerings like the deep-purple borscht — made with beets and served with mushroom dumplings — and the leek-and-potato, greenly luscious on an icy January day. Dana Bishop-Root and Ginger Brooks Takahashi deliver the homemade vegan soup…
Ten More Years on Penn addresses the ups and downs of arts-based gentrification.
TEN MORE YEARS ON PENN Through Feb. 11. Pittsburgh Glass Center, 5472 Penn Ave., Friendship. 412-365-2145 or website For a show marking Pittsburgh Glass Center’s decennial, visiting artists Gwylene Gallimard and Jean Marie Mauclet asked community members about the impact of arts-based redevelopment along Penn Avenue in Friendship, Bloomfield and Garfield. Gentrification can be cruel,…
Draai Laag: The new brewery with an old-school approach
Draai Laag 501 E. Ohio St., Millvale. draailaag.com The brewers at Draai Laag (pronounced “Dry Log”), the first commercial brewery in Millvale since 1845, don’t care about following trends. For example, says co-owner Sean Monaghan, despite the current popularity of heavily hopped beers, “You won’t find an IPA here.” Instead of using a mix of…
Haywire
Haywire Directed by Steven Soderbergh Starring Gina Carano In the globe-hopping Haywire, Mallory Kane (Gina Carano, pictured) is a black-ops agent who, mid-job, finds herself the victim of a set-up. One of her associates has put the black mark on her; now, how quickly can she take one, two or maybe more out? “I don’t…
Lynn Cullen Live 01/25/12
Video Archive No Potter today, but he’ll be here Friday!; State of the Union speech recap; Santorum doesn’t correct a woman at his rally saying Obama isn’t a citizen & is a Muslim; not all soldiers are heroes; reading of recently lost soldiers in Afghanistan; Obama wants the US to restore economy where everyone gets…
Albert Nobbs
Albert Nobbs Starts Fri., Jan. 27. AMC Loews Unbeknownst to the staff at the Dublin hotel where he works, the professional, quiet waiter Mr. Nobbs is, in fact, a woman. In order to work in 19th-century Ireland, Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close) has lived in disguise and solitude for more than 30 years. Rodrigo Garcia’s drama…
Savage Love
Have boyfriend. Several months. Love sex. First time we sixty-nine, I notice he has a little turtlehead sticking out. You get me? Second time, he has bits of toilet paper stuck in that area. CAN I ADDRESS THIS? How do I do it without giving him a permanently flaccid penis? I love this man to…
Man on a Ledge
In which we see a man (Sam Worthington) escape from jail and reunite with some items in a storage locker before heading to midtown Manhattan, where he parks himself — yes — on a high-story ledge. It’s up to a feisty cop (Elizabeth Banks) to figure out why an escaped con would purposefully attract so…
In My Old West
There were quail. Each day, a line or two of them marching under their topknots beneath the eucalyptus. And vultures –– buzzards we called them, sweeping overhead. Some poor animal’s dead in the field, my mother might say, then, call me in from the yard where I am crouched on the blacktop –– watching the…
Red Tails
Anthony Hemingway’s action-drama recounts some of the exploits of the Tuskegee Airmen, a wholly African-American U.S. Army Air Corps group that flew in Europe during World War II. (At the time, the Armed Forces were segregated.) The men primarily flew as bomber escorts, but their aerial skills earned them accolades and medals. Red Tails is…
In Focus
In the Carnegie Museum of Art’s ongoing exhibit Teenie Harris, Photographer, the image below appears briefly — a graffiti-marred jail cell wedged between photos of black-owned storefronts in a continual slideshow projection. But as with much of the legendary Pittsburgh Courier photographer’s work, the photo is framed by the stories of Pittsburgh’s Hill District.
Roadie
Roadie 7 p.m. nightly, Jan. 26 – 28. Hollywood, Dormont After getting fired from his gig with Blue Oyster Cult, a roadie named Jimmy (Ron Eldard) comes home to Queens, N.Y., to lick his wounds. He hasn’t returned to the old neighborhood in 25-some years, and it feels like little has changed. His mother is…
Short List: January 26 – 31
There are more than 20 venues participating in the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Jan. 27 Gallery Crawl, and several Downtown presenters seem especially committed to keeping things fresh. Wood Street Galleries opens its first show of the year: in transit, the U.S. debut of Norwegian artist HC Gilje, is a site-specfic installation incorporating video and projected…
Atlanta-based Rotating Souls Records keeps a Pittsburgh heart
Rotating Souls Records is based in Atlanta, but it’s a label with deep Pittsburgh roots. Proprietor Curt Jackson is a veteran of the local DJ scene, who lived here for 30 years before heading south — and even now, he refers to his label, which started in earnest last year, as a Pittsburgh label. A…
In The Torah Garden, poet Philip Terman finds a place worth staying
The Torah Garden Poems by Philip Terman Autumn House Press 120 Pp., $14.95 .greybg { background-color: #CCC; padding:5px; } Torah and garden — two words seldom jammed together in the same phrase. For poet Philip Terman, author of The Torah Garden, it’s two words in creative tension: Torah, the first five books of the Old…
East Liberty Quarters revives electro-boogie
EAST LIBERTY QUARTERS with RIVKA, WATABOU, ADIA, TRACKSPLOITATION. 9 p.m. Sat., Jan. 28. Thunderbird Café, 4023 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $5. 412-682-0177 or thunderbirdcafe.net All three being longtime DJs and producers, the members of East Liberty Quarters are no strangers to the stage. But when the group made its live debut last October, opening for Dam-Funk…
Critics’ Picks: January 27 – 29
[REGGAE] + FRI., JAN. 27 To paraphrase Voltaire: If Yellow Dubmarine did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it. It’s a band name with a built-in concept — obviously, reggae versions of Beatles songs. One has to wonder whether, in fact, the name came before the band. Regardless, Yellow Dubmarine does exist, and…
Internal memo confirms: layoffs on the horizon at EDMC
As we reported earlier today, employees at for-profit educator EDMC were told this morning to brace for potential layoffs by the week’s end. Late this afternoon, an e-mail following up on those meetings was sent out to staff by John Kline, the President of EDMC’s Online Higher Education division. City Paper has obtained a copy…
Insiders: Layoffs coming at EDMC
Employees with Education Management Corporation (EDMC), the Pittsburgh-based for-profit educator, are bracing for layoffs which could come in the next few days. Employees who have asked not to be identified have told City Paper that departmental meetings were held throughout the Pittsburgh office this morning. While some employees say they were assured their own jobs…
