Crowdfunding roundup: Pittsburgh Public Market, punk rock prom, Greek yogurt and more
Every now and again, we like to update you on some currently active crowdfunding campaigns around town. Here’s what’s going on right now: — The Pittsburgh Public Market is in the final days of a Kickstarter drive to raise the remaining $10,000 needed to finish construction of a $600,000 commercial-grade kitchen, which culinary entrepreneurs can…
Lynn Cullen Live 07/29/14
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; opposites attract, but they don’t always stay together; FL law forbidding pediatricians to ask parents about gun ownership; average American’s vacation days; marijuana laws not enforced evenly; the war on drugs is the new Jim Crow; viral video of dog so excited, he passes out; Caller: Clarence, Canonsburg. Audio Only…
CMU Professor to appear on genealogy show
Sandage helped research Tyler Ferguson’s ancestry
Lynn Cullen Live 07/28/14
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New Outdoor Marketplace in Strip Starts Sunday
First of three planned “Neighborhood Flea” events
No longer a teen: Pittsburgh Blues Festival hits two decades of operation
Photo courtesy of Jensen Hande JJ Grey The Pittsburgh Blues Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary today through Sunday at Hartwood Acres. This year’s headliners include Trampled Under Foot, Dr. John, Spin Doctors, JJ Grey & Mofro and more. Locals acts include Mahajibee, Norm Nardini & The Pittsburgh All Stars and more. Full line-up can be…
Lynn Cullen Live – 07/25/14
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Fundraising campaign launched for Paul Zyla
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched in support of local DJ Paul Zyla. On July 14, Zyla suffered an aneurysm and seizure. He is currently in stable condition in the neurovascular ICU at UPMC Presbyterian in Oakland. Zyla performs as Relative Q (his DJ moniker), is a co-founder of record label Young Robots and was…
Send a Burlesque Artist to L.A.
Benefit show for Macabre Noir features neo-burlesque, music and more
Fast continues at West Virginia capitol; civil disobedience planned
85-year-old activist is up to 17 days without food to protest mountaintop-removal coal mining
The Purge: Anarchy
It’s 2023, and it’s “Purge Night,” the annual evening during which murder is legal and even encouraged. It clears out the troublesome underclass who have nowhere to hide; killing is one’s patriotic duty toward keeping America safe and prosperous. Or at least that’s what the government assures us. Yeah, the set-up of James DeMonaco’s horror…
Alla Famiglia
Alla Famiglia 804 E. Warrington Ave. Allentown. 412-488-1440 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 5 p.m.- last reservation Prices: Appetizers 12-16; pasta $28-48; entrees $42-65 Liquor: Full bar For years, a peculiarity of Pittsburgh was that one of our finest dining experiences was situated far from Downtown’s hotels and expense accounts, and the well-heeled enclaves of Shadyside and Squirrel…
Sex Tape
To spice up their sex lives, a married couple (and parents to two movie-moppets) makes a sex tape. A three-hour sex tape … based on the zillion-year-old guide, The Joy of Sex. And because lazy screenwriters love the tech-impaired, their video winds up in the cloud by mistake. Even less believable, the whole mess starts…
After devastating blaze, Perle and NOLA return with enhanced drinks list
Last February, a devastating fire gutted Market Square’s NOLA on the Square and its sister space, the champagne-focused Perle. What could have been a total disaster instead prompted a nearly five-month renovation. “We took all the things we wanted to make better,” says Big Y Restaurant Group beverage director John Ajay, “and we did that.”…
Wish I Was Here
In this dramedy from Zach Braff, Aidan Bloom (Braff) is a thirtysomething facing assorted crises: He has no luck finding acting jobs; his father (Mandy Patinkin) is dying; his wife (Kate Hudson) is fed up; and the kids are tossed out of yeshiva for lack of funds. Oh, and his weirdo brother (Josh Gad) is…
With the new Dulcinea Bakeshop, the Strip District gets a bakery
Eight years ago, Tabrina Avery switched schools and regions — from business school in North Carolina to the Le Cordon Bleu in Pittsburgh. This summer, with the help of her former employers at Opening Night catering, she opened Dulcinea Bakeshop, in the Strip District. (“Dulcinea” is the woman whom Don Quixote fell in love with,…
Film Kitchen
Instead of featuring just a few filmmakers, curator Matthew Day offers 16 shorts by 14 local artists. Most works are only a few minutes long. “Pittsburgh Winter” is a charming, fanciful comedy by Marcus Morelli. “Dreaming Ant” is Chris Smalley’s black-and-white homage to the Bloomfield store that was Pittsburgh’s last brick-and-mortal video-rental emporium. Ivette Spradlin…
Exit Interview: Sean Jones
SEAN JONES. 7 p.m. Sat., July 26. Riverview Park, Perry North. Free. 412-255-2493 Renowned jazz trumpeter Sean Jones came to Pittsburgh in 2004, as an artist in residence at Duquesne University. In his 10 years here, Jones has brought back the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, released several albums (including his latest, Im•pro•vise — Never Before Seen),…
Review: Sean Jones’ Im•pro•vise
Sean Jones Im•pro•vise — Never Before Seen (Mack Avenue) Sean Jones plays trumpet with a distinct style — strong in the upper register as well as the lower, with a tone that is equal parts lyrical, sanctified and fiery. But his albums have presented him in a variety of contexts, from straight-ahead jazz to gospel,…
A Conversation with Bill Maher
Unflappably irreverent comedian Bill Maher has been a force in national politics for more than 20 years, but he’s not above Googling cities on his tours, even when not much is happening. “I always find out who the [congressional] representative is,” says the host of HBO’s Real Time during a phone interview, name-checking Rep. Mike…
Campaign to start Pittsburgh jazz wax-figure exhibit takes to Indiegogo
As a photographer, Don Patterson has always understood the power of images. Even so, when he encountered a figure of Whitney Houston during a visit to a wax museum last year, he was blown away. “I thought she was going to reach out and touch me,” he says with a laugh. “It humanized it. It…
A digital-only art group goes meatspace at Assemble
Art group Manifesto-ish has had four exhibits in as many years, but it has never had a gallery. The collective, formed by four former graduate students at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, runs an art space that exists only online. Arranged like Google Maps’ Street View, the gallery features 2-D art hanging on virtual 3-D…
Critics’ Picks: July 23 – 29
[CHAMBER MUSIC] + THU., JULY 24 Yes, the header says “chamber music,” but this isn’t just any old chamber music. C Street Brass, a CMU offshoot, has put together a program that melds all kinds of music — from classical to electronic. The all-brass ensemble is calling the program “No Limits,” and performing it with…
Fixing King John at No Name Players
FIXING KING JOHN continues through Aug. 2. No Name Players at Off The Wall Theater, 25 W. Main St., Carnegie. $15-20. 412-207-7111 or nonameplayers.org There are several ways to look at this show’s title. In rewriting and reworking Shakespeare’s King John, playwright Kirk Lynn “fixes” an unpopular history play, turning it into a hip tragedy.…
New Releases
Casino Bulldogs Stun Gun (Self-released) Nine new tracks from the local indie-rock trio. Good tunes, running the gamut from riff-heavy guitar jams to — just as often — atmospheric stuff that sometimes recalls Joy Division. Casino Bulldogs hold it down with good tunes year after year, without calling that much attention to themselves: It’d be…
Romance at Kinetic Theatre Co.
ROMANCE continues through Aug. 2. Kinetic Theatre Co. at the Alloy Studios, 5530 Penn Ave Friendship. $15-35. 888-718-4253 or kinetictheatre.org David Mamet is not known for his delicacy, and Romance, a farce bordering on self-parody, reaches spectacular degrees of offensiveness. Andrew Paul, producing artistic director of newly minted Kinetic Theatre Co., expresses surprise that his…
Following Up: PrideFest altercation raises as many questions about police policy as it does about the officer’s conduct
When a June 15 video surfaced of a Pittsburgh police officer pulling a 19-year-old girl, Ariel Lawther, from a crowd of PrideFest attendees by the hair and neck just before punching her several times, the incident became the first high-profile allegation of police misconduct made during Mayor Bill Peduto’s watch. “This is an important incident…
Side Show at Stage 62
SIDE SHOW continues through Sun., July 27. Stage 62 at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, 300 Beechwood Ave., Carnegie. $15-18. 412-429-6262 or stage62.org The title of the lavish opening number says it all: “Come Look at the Freaks.” Side Show is based on the real-life story of conjoined twins Daisy and Violet…
In Memoriam: Victor Navarro Jr.
Victor Navarro, Jr., was more than just a fixture in Pittsburgh. He was like an “Ol’ Faithful”: a temperamental tourist attraction whose very force of nature inspired different responses. Before the longtime Bloomfield character, who died June 30 at age 66, became a reliable feature of the landscape, he struggled with the world at large.…
A New Death at Throughline Theatre
A NEW DEATH continues through Sat., July 26. Grey Box Theatre 3595 Butler St. Lawrenceville. $12-15. 888-718-4253 or ThroughlineTheatre.org Theater’s cruelest illusion? That comedy is fun. Wringing a tear from an audience is simple; getting and keeping them laughing is nearly impossible, as demonstrated in Throughline Theatre Co.’s premiere of A New Death, by local…
Carbon Nation: Pittsburgh will host hearings on EPA’s emission-reduction plan
On July 31 and Aug. 1, Pittsburgh will be one of four U.S. cities to host public hearings on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule to reduce carbon emissions from power plants. Hundreds will testify at all-day sessions at Downtown’s William S. Moorhead Federal Building, the comments largely familiar, since the plan was announced…
Writing on the walls, throughout the ages
WALLDOGS July 25-Aug. 2. Hatch Arts Collective at Artists Image Resource, 518 Foreland St. North Side. $10. hatcharts.org Advertisements, public murals and graffiti might be a bit more public than the inner 5-year-old’s urge to grab some markers and have at a vertical surface, but they are all related in Walldogs. The new stage work…
Gift Box: For Jimmy Cvetic, a locally-shot boxing film offers a chance for local kids to step into the ring.
Jimmy Cvetic may not move as fast as he used to, but when he’s on a mission, his mouth and brain can function with lightning speed. On this Friday morning, the long-retired Allegheny County Police detective is running around trying to help a local casting director find 100 to 150 extras to act as spectators…
A Most-Wanted Man
A Most-Wanted Man Directed by: Anton Corbijn Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright Starts: Fri., July 25. AMC Loews The end of the Cold War was a disaster for the spy genre. But adapt we must, and the international-intrigue entertainment complex has stumbled, with varying success, into the post-9/11 realm, where…
Savage Love
I am a gay man and have been in a relationship with my GGG boyfriend for more than three years. I just discovered that he has been engaging in what can only be described as cyber infidelity. He had a secret email account, posted on Craigslist M4M, and had an Adam4Adam account. He would exchange…
The Dance of Reality
Alejandro Jodorowsky, the filmmaker who made cult classics El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973), returns with a new film, The Dance of Reality, an autobiographical fable about his youth in a small Chilean village. The film starts out a bit loopy, but soon settles into a relatively coherent, if at times surrealistic, narrative:…
Short List: July 23 – 30
SPOTLIGHT: Sun., July 27 — Festival While researching a mural project in Shadyside, artists Logan Randolph and Nic Marlton learned the unlikely story of Margo Lovelace, who in 1964 launched Lovelace Marionette Theater at 5888½ Ellsworth Ave. Along with entertaining two decades’ worth of Pittsburgh kids, Lovelace helped spark the neighborhood’s rebirth as an arts…
And So It Goes
Here’s a film that seemed to give up caring — from its meaningless title right through to its inevitable “storybook” resolution. In between, some more lackluster stuff, seemingly pulled from discarded soap-opera scripts. But forget the nonsense about people randomly going to jail and surprise grandkids: The “meat” of the story is a torturous, yet…
Stuff We Like
Down and Derby roller-skating at Belvedere’s, in Lawrenceville. Like a fifth-grade birthday party … with more alcohol. Sat., July 26, is “Yacht Rock.” www.sk8party.com The Bridge. This FX original crime series is back for a second season of intense, character-driven stories unfolding on the El Paso/Juarez border. Great ensemble cast makes it worth the time.…
Lynn Cullen Live 07/23/14
Video Archive Guest: Jared Day, Daylee News Nuggets; what planet to Tea Partiers live on?; Repubs & Dems acting on emotion & unreasonable expectations; issues Dems have stepped down on in the 90s; not all soldiers are heroes; who will Hillary choose as VP?; the psychology of zoo animals; Caller: Clarence, Canonsburg. Audio Only Archive
