Listen to this week’s issue with Listen Up!
As we do every week, we’ve prepared for you a Spotify playlist of acts mentioned in this week’s CP or otherwise playing around town this week. It can act as a sort of audio guide to what you’re reading — or just a playlist for the rest of the workday. Enjoy!
New concert announcements include Dave Matthews, Shakey Graves
Here in Pittsburgh, we have certain seasonal harbingers: It wouldn’t be Christmas without a visit from the weird Christmas-metal band Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and it wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without Monster Jam. Likewise, summer in Pittsburgh wouldn’t be complete without a visit from the Dave Matthews Band, and the group announced its summer itinerary today, including…
Lynn Cullen Live 1/13/15
Video Archive BBC reporter being called to resign over report with daughter of Holocaust survivor. Former Dolphins player swims 27 miles to shore after losing his boat. Steven Emerson of Fox News put his foot in his mouth yet again. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android…
MP3 Monday: Yungn Voorheez, from DJ Goodnight’s new mixtape
Longtime local player DJ Goodnight recently released his latest mixtape, Pardon My Back, which features tracks with a number of local MCs. We’ll be running a review of the mixtape as a whole in a coming issue of CP, but in the meantime, we’re featuring one track as our MP3 Monday this week. “Sly Stone”…
Lynn Cullen Live 1/12/15
Video Archive Addlepated. Golden Globes follow up. Nixon tapes and Vietnam. A caller and Lynn talk football. Does the answer to football related concussion lie in woodpeckers? Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Trailer for Sale or Rent: Taken 3
This film was not screened for critics locally, so we took a look at the trailer. Film: Taken 3 Opening Date: Fri., Jan. 9, 2015 Stars: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Forest Whitaker Necessary Info: Third Taken film, featuring Neeson as a former special-forces dude getting things done; this time, he’s falsely accused of murder and…
Premiere of films tomorrow by people with autism
If a film about an energy drink that kills people and brings them back as “highly energetic zombies” sounds like it could be entertaining, you’ll want to drop by the premiere of “En-Zombia” tomorrow morning — part of a screening of short films created by people with autism. The Joey Travolta Film Camp Red Carpet…
Lynn Cullen Live 1/9/15
Video Archive Editor of the City Paper, Charlie Deitch, discusses the police chief, Kathleen Kane and Peduto. More on the evolving terrorism situation in France. Pgh’s most hidden museum. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Peduto defends new police chief on ‘The O’Reilly Factor’
When Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto appeared Dec. 21 on the CBS show Undercover Boss, the hardest thing he had to do was wield a chainsaw under the supervision of a skeptical Public Works employee. But last night, Peduto took to the national airwaves again — taking jabs from Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly while defending newly minted Pittsburgh Police…
Listen Up! Playlist of this week’s music section
After a hiatus around the holidays, we’re back with our weekly Listen Up! feature, in which I put together a Spotify playlist to accompany the week’s music section. This week’s includes artists featured in the paper — like Dale Watson and Bahamas — as well as folks playing shows this week who didn’t make it…
CP Weekend Podcast – Jan. 9 – 11, 2015
This week on the CP Weekend Podcast: Open your eyes to naked trees, relish the yinzer accent, and enjoy your stoner rock in unadulterated fashion.
Lynn Cullen Live 1/8/15
Video Archive Our involvement in the Middle East and the follow up on Charlie Hedbo. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Organizational Issues: Despite challenges, local unionization efforts press on
Last month, a group of 50 Rivers Casino workers gathered in the employee cafeteria to decry the casino’s strict attendance policy. There they shared stories of employees who had been fired and their own personal struggles with an attendance policy they say has led to the casino’s high employee-turnover rate. “We wanted to show how…
Political cartoonist Jen Sorensen begins running in Pittsburgh City Paper this week
Despite growing up across the state, in Lancaster, Jen Sorensen has visited Pittsburgh only once — when she attended the 2013 National Cartoonist Society convention. She loved the Toonseum, and ate the obligatory Primanti’s sandwich: “I was a little skeptical, but it won me over.” Beginning this week, her award-winning political cartoons, this week on…
Just Because
I know there are things that you ain’t suppose to do and will probably get you a good whipping if you’re caught but you’ll do them anyway just because and no other reason than just because. Like you ain’t suppose to play with matches just because you can burn someone’s porch down or shoot marbles…
Chief Priorities: Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay makes waves by doing the right things
Before he was elected mayor, I talked to Bill Peduto many times about the importance of hiring the right police chief. And many times he told me that while it was his priority, selecting a new chief had to be done the right way. As his first term trudged along, I admit that I worried…
Savage Love
I have been wearing bras and panties with stockings for so long now, it’s become a part of me, and I was wondering if you have heard of this before. Sent From Samsung Mobile People wearing bras and panties and stockings — that is something I’ve heard of before. A quick programming note: Some weeks,…
Short List: January 7 – 13
SPOTLIGHT: Tue., Jan. 13 — Words Like many writers hosted by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, Shahriar Mandanipour was acclaimed in his own country … until he wasn’t. Mandanipour, 57, was born in Iran and for years lauded for his fiction, nonfiction and essays; he won awards for everything from a children’s novel he wrote to his…
Mark Zingarelli illustrated a new book-length comic about a little-known tale of the AIDS crisis
Before Joyce Brabner and Mark Zingarelli could finish their book-length nonfiction comic on the 1980s AIDS crisis, they had to take things out back. Halfway through completing Second Avenue Caper: When Goodfellas, Divas, and Dealers Plotted Against the Plague, Zingarelli, a professional illustrator/comic artist and writer, lost his momentum and his muse. But it was…
Stuff We Like
Always a Home Game. Last year, former Steelers punter and current sports-talk host Josh Miller and writing partner Shawn Allen set out to document Steelers fandom by visiting dozens of Steelers bars across the country. Read about what they found (hint: plenty of black and gold) in their new book. www.alwaysahomegame.com Mario Zucca’s Illustrated Map…
A new book tells the story of the iconic Mellon Square
We are now so accustomed to the rhetoric of Pittsburgh’s superiority that we have lost touch with the days when its ills seemed grave and its needs for improvement, acute. Why did we get Mellon Square? Because our post-World War II city was so notoriously smoky and dismal that Richard King Mellon could not get…
Kasai PGH Japanese Restaurant
Kasai PGH Japanese Restaurant 146 E. Main St. Carnegie 412-279-5500 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 5-9 p.m. Prices: $3-14 Liquor: BYOB We’ve always liked Carnegie (here we refer to the town, not the fellow). With its traditional Main Street and West Busway access, we think this charming town has long been under-appreciated as a desirable…
Emerge/Evolve is a small but mighty exhibition at Pittsburgh Glass Center
EMERGE/EVOLVE continues through Jan. 18 Pittsburgh Glass Center 5472 Penn Ave. Friendship 412-365-2145 or pittsburghglasscenter.org Emerge/Evolve is a small but mighty collection showcasing artists in the early stages of finding their expression through glass. This traveling exhibition was curated by Portland, Ore.’s Bullseye Glass Company, and is hosted locally by the Pittsburgh Glass Center. The…
East End Brewing is now a brewpub
Scott Smith entered the brewpub business kicking and screaming. “I’m not a restaurant guy,” explained Smith, owner of East End Brewing Company. “I’m barely a pub guy. I avoided it like the plague.” But 10 years in, with demand high and space plentiful in the brewery’s new Larimer home, Smith couldn’t fight it any longer.…
Force Majeure
Force Majeure Directed by: Ruben Ostlund Starring: Johannes Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli In English, and Swedish and Norwegian, with subtitles Starts Fri., Jan. 9. Regent Square A random incident at a French ski resort tears a Swedish family apart during their holiday in Force Majeure, writer-director Ruben Ostlund’s drama-with-a-comic-bite. It opens with the resort photographer…
Bar Marco starts offering ‘complete employment’ to workers
Bar Marco, the Pittsburgh restaurant that boasts spontaneity with its No Menu Mondays and made-to-order cocktails, is looking to for more consistency … for its employees. Beginning this year, the 3-year-old restaurant in the Strip District is offering complete employment contracts — including a full wage (starting salary $35,000), health care and shares in the…
The Search for General Tso
Most of us know that our Chinese food is the Americanized version of the real thing. But by focusing on one dish, Ian Cheney’s documentary The Search for General Tso proves a fascinating inquiry into history, culture and deep-fried chicken chunks. The fast-paced, 73-minute film plays like a detective story investigating whether there was an…
Film Kitchen
The monthly series for local and independent artists features Andrew Batista’s “The Commute.” This unnerving, 22-minute psychodrama stars Nathan Hollabaugh as a white-collar suburban guy who might have done something awful at home. Is it a dream, or a series of them? Ghost story? Mystery? Beautifully shot and skillfully acted, “The Commute” also carries a…
Dale Watson takes country back to its roots
DALE WATSON with REV. HORTON HEAT 7:30 p.m. Fri., Jan. 16 Altar Bar 1620 Penn Ave. Strip District $22-32 412-206-9719 or thealtarbar.com Dale Watson has given up on country music. Not the sound, but the phrase. More specifically, the music that the phrase now stands for. And if you’ve listened to modern “country music” for…
Afie Jurvanen brings folk into the 21st century as Bahamas
BAHAMAS with FIELD REPORT SOLD OUT7 p.m. Wed., Jan. 14 Club Café 56 S. 12th St. South Side $14 412-431-4950 or clubcafelive.com Afie Jurvanen was a prominent session player in Toronto, playing perhaps most notably with Feist, before setting out in 2008 with his solo project, Bahamas. His 2014 album Bahamas Is Afie was one…
Lianna Ankney makes her solo debut as Diamond Shapes
DIAMOND SHAPES with THE 302’S, THE MUTINY, MARISSA MATIS, STEVEN BANKS, WHERE’S IAN 7 p.m. Sat., Jan 10 The Keynote Café 227 S. Fourth St. Jeannette $10 412-638-5263 or keynotecafe.wordpress.com Two years after deciding to start guitar lessons, Lianna Ankney made a deal with herself. Either she would start writing her own songs — something…
Critics’ Picks, Jan. 8-14
[LOCAL] + FRI., JAN. 9 January is when the volume of touring acts coming through town generally slows down; given the miseries of being on the road in winter in the Midwest and Northeast, many bands hunker down starting around the holidays and don’t emerge from their dens until SXSW season. The flip side: Winter…
Lynn Cullen Live 1/7/15
Video Archive Charlie Hebdo attacked by terrorist. 12 dead. 2016 election shaping up to Clinton vs. Bush. RIP Stuart Scott. Outdated and unconstitutional laws. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
