Boom Chick comes to Thunderbird Cafe this Saturday 8/4
Alan Schleich Self-proclaimed “honky tonk surf rock” two piece Boom Chick will be strolling through Pittsburgh on its current tour, stopping at Thunderbird Cafe this Saturday, August 4th. The two-piece Brooklyn-based band, formed in 2009, consists of vocalist/guitarist Frank Hoier and drummer Moselle Spiller. Blending different influences into what sounds like a hyped-out White Stripes,…
New Student Photo Group Forming
An Art Institute of Pittsburgh student wants to unite student photographers across the city. There’s no shortage of aspiring photographic artists and photojournalists in Pittsburgh, especially not on college campuses. But despite the abundance of student-run media clubs, opportunities for young photographers to network across schools remain scarce, says Richard Woodson, a senior graphic design…
Yeasayer kicks off tour at Mr. Small’s tonight
Brooklyn electro-indie band Yeasayer will kick off a tour tonight in Pittsburgh to celebrate the release of the band’s new album Fragrant World. The album, issued by Secretly Canadian and Odd Blood, will hit stores on August 20th. Fragrant World presents Yeasayer’s unique take on electronica melded with pop sensibilities and indie rock structure. The…
Review: Punchline’s 15 year anniversary show at Altar Bar 7/27/12
As I approached Altar Bar on Friday July 27th, I didn’t quite know what to expect out of my evening; I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. Standing in line, it seemed that everyone was waiting for a normal, run of the mill show. While it had all the markings of a standard night at…
Lynn Cullen Live 07/31/12
Video Archive Phone Guest: Susan ( Happy Birthday! ); Castro giving keynote speech at Democratic Nat’l Convention ( but not the one you think ); spider webs; word of the day: gobsmacked; why we do what we do; Romney can’t win, but Obama could lose; rural Mississippi comparable a 3rd world country for some people;…
In Miles trial, police officers suffer reversal from defense witness
Officers in the Jordan Miles civil suit suffered a setback in federal court today, when a witness called by the defense repeatedly declined to shore up its case. During Miles’ testimony last week, defense attorney Jim Wymard asked him if he ever told Ryan Allen, a former high school friend, that he’d been carrying Mountain…
Lynn Cullen Live 07/30/12
Video Archive The Olympics; Opening Ceremony: Rowan Atkinson, the Queen & Daniel Craig; beach volleyball babes had to cover up; gymnastic floor exercise & ass shaking; the blind archer; non-Jewish men wearing yarmulkes just look silly; Romney’s social clumsiness; awkward presidential candidates; NBC cutting the July 7 tribute from Opening Ceremony broadcast; air boat capt.…
Final Weekend at the Waffle Shop
The East Liberty art project that’s a restaurant and a talk show bakes its last waffle tomorrow night. Carnegie Mellon art professor Jon Rubin says it’s simply time to shut down the venue he co-founded in 2008. “Creatively, the shop’s kind of run its course. It’s kind of less unexpected than it was,” Rubin says.…
Transit service for disabled riders protected; outlook still uncertain for rest of system
Allegheny County’s paratransit service ACCESS has been spared from significant service reductions, at least for now. ACCESS had faced a significant service reduction — the first in its history — as part of the Port Authority’s pending 35 percent reduction in September due to a $64 million budget deficit. The cuts would have reduced the…
ELCO’s The Looking Glass to benefit the Union Project
The Eclectic Laboratory Chamber Orchestra will be holding a new program, The Looking Glass, to benefit the Union Project. The concert will be held at the Union Project building (801 N. Negley Avenue, in the East End) this Sunday, July 29th. The Union Project’s mission is to facilitate a space for creativity and celebration of…
Lynn Cullen Live 07/27/12
Video Archive Olympics Opening Ceremonies; anniversary of Israeli team massacre; Jordan Miles trial — defense on the stand today; we are all 1 degree away from UPMC; the Afghan “War;” Obama & Romney both willing to exploit the war, our soldiers; PA Commonwealth Court ruling on fracking off to Supreme Court; men in capri pants;…
In Miles case, it’s the police officers’ turn
Homewood teen Jordan Miles not only ran from police after they identified themselves, police officer Michael Saldutte testified this afternoon, but he put up a lengthy fight as three city officers tried to subdue him. Today marked the beginning of the defense’s case in Miles’ civil-rights trial against Pittsburgh police. And Saldutte testified that on…
JD McPherson’s Final Friday
No, Oklahoma-based singer/songwriter JD McPherson is in no mortal danger: the musician will be partaking in WYEP’s Final Fridays concert series at Schenley Park on July 27th. Samantha Franklin JD McPherson McPherson has become synonymous with the R&B-influenced rock-and-roll scene. His 2010 debut, Signals And Signifiers, was treated to a major-label release by Rounder Records…
Lynn Cullen Live 07/26/12
Video Archive Yesterday’s record-setting crowd @ the Pirate’s game; walking is quicker than North Shore Connector; people move too slowly; winning sports teams = $$$ to vendors, restaurants, etc…; everyone in the world came from a woman, and yet women are looked at as the weaker sex; white heterosexual men are threatened by their loss…
New video: TMEye
We’ve written a little on TMEye before, and also on the studio they call home. The duo has a new video, produced by local producer Ben Hernstrom Check it out:
Elena
Elena In Russian, with subtitles. Starts Fri., July 27. Regent Square Andrei Zvyagintsev’s spare drama Elena paints a portrait of contemporary urban Russia by focusing on the intersection of two families. Vladimir (Andrey Smirnov) is wealthy retired businessman, with an estranged but spoiled daughter. Working-class Elena (Nadezhda Markina) is Vladimir’s second wife; she continues to…
Whiskies from India and other emerging markets arrive in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh resident Raj Sabharwal wants you to try something unexpected: high-end, single malt whisky distilled in India. “A lot of people are reluctant because they think, ‘Oh, it’s India,'” admits the co-owner and managing director of the U.S. branch of Purple Valley Imports. “But in blind tastings, [the whiskies] blow people away.” These Indian whiskies,…
Peace, Love and Misunderstanding
Peace, Love and Misunderstanding Starts Fri., July 27, through Tue. July 31. Hollywood, Dormont Throughout Bruce Beresford’s family dramedy, I had to wonder what on earth compelled such competent actresses as Jane Fonda, Catherine Keener and Elizabeth Olsen to sign up for this tepid cliché-fest. After her husband abruptly asks for a divorce, uptight Manhattan…
Here’s a tip for making thicker, more custard-like yogurt.
Are you a home yogurt-maker who wants thicker yogurt? The kind you can practically carve? Here’s a simple trick that earned me the honorary title of “yogurt savior” from a friend. Instructions for making yogurt can be found in cookbooks or online. But basically, yogurt has just two ingredients: milk and a live active culture.…
Pink Ribbons, Inc.
Pink Ribbons Starts Fri., July 27, through Tue., July 31. Melwood Lea Pool’s documentary pulls the curtain back on the mega-branding efforts that are the many pink-ribbon campaigns for breast-cancer “awareness.” (Is there anybody left unaware of cancer?) It’s an eye-opening film, based in part on Samantha King’s eponymous muckraking book. Pool interviews King, as…
Lost by Forfeit
Jerry Sandusky took vulnerable, needy children, and tried to steal their future. On Monday, the NCAA stripped Penn State of its past. It’s not an even trade. Not even if you throw in the $60 million in fines the NCAA also levied, or the millions Penn State will pay in damages to Sandusky’s victims. Or…
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Beasts of the Southern Wild Starts Fri., July 27. Manor “The whole universe depends on everything fitting together just right. If one piece busts, even the smallest piece … the whole universe will get busted.” So we’re informed by Hushpuppy, the preternaturally wise 6-year-old narrator and protagonist of Beasts of the Southern Wild, the debut…
Lucid Music’s fifth album recounts the duo’s origins
LUCID MUSIC CD RELEASE with LESLIE ADDIS, TRACKSPLOITATION. 9 p.m. Sat., July 28. Howlers Coyote Café 4509 Liberty Ave. Bloomfield. $3. 412-682-0320 or howlerscoyotecafe.com The art started one day out of the blue He met the brother and knew something about him was true Lucid Music began years before the duo — Warren Parker and…
M83’s latest takes the form of a double album
M83 with BIG BLACK DELTA. 8 p.m. Thu., Aug. 2. Carnegie Library Music Hall 510 E. 10th Ave. Munhall. $28-30. All ages. 412-368-5225 or carnegieconcerts.com Blonde on Blonde. The White Album. The Wall. The studio double LP often signals a weightier artistic intent — if only the weight of two vinyl slabs. For the CD…
New VIA-operated venue opens in East Liberty
6119 6119 Penn Ave. East Liberty. via-pgh.org or facebook.com/6119Penn Exploring East Liberty’s newest performance space, 6119, this past weekend, I couldn’t help but feel like I was walking between the blurring borders of two cultural hemispheres. At one point, electronic artist Skinny Friedman was spinning a chopped and screwed version of Brandy and Monica’s immortal…
Lynn Cullen Live 07/25/12
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; new CP out today; voter ID trial in Harrisburg; South Dakota doctors have to warn patients that abortion leads to suicide; in PA, absentee ballot voters only need a social security card; Democrats hold John Roberts in higher regard now than Repubs; Jordan Miles civil trial; was the Penn State…
CD Reviews
The Full Steam Yours Truly (Self-released) Stick with me: The band formerly known as Yours Truly is now called The Full Steam, and its new EP is called Yours Truly. It’s five complex pop-rock songs from the three-piece, which is making the move to Los Angeles after its proper Pittsburgh release show. The vocal harmonies,…
Impressionism in a New Light
IMPRESSIONISM IN A NEW LIGHT: FROM MONET TO STIEGLITZ continues through Aug. 26. Carnegie Museum of Art 4400 Forbes Ave. Oakland. 412-622-3131 or www.cmoa.org “What is accepted today as conservative was yesterday denounced as revolutionary,” wrote Alfred Stieglitz in 1903. Throughout his life, Stieglitz obsessively explored the expressive possibilities of photography; he saw himself as…
Critics’ Picks: July 25 – August 1
[CLASSIC ROCK] + THU., JULY 26 After the release of its breakthrough album Dreamboat Annie in 1976, Heart enjoyed massive rock-circuit success, which has waxed and waned for Ann and Nancy Wilson and company over the years. Although the band suffered through an 11-year drought without an album between 1993 and 2004, the 21st century…
Jazz Dance World Congress brings diverse performers to Pittsburgh
JDWC’S JAZZ DANCE WORLD FESTIVAL 8 p.m. Wed., Aug. 1-Sat., Aug. 4 (International Choreography Competition pre-show at 6:30 p.m., Aug 1-3). Byham Theater 101 Sixth St. Downtown. $45 per show. 412-456-6666 or trustarts.org So you think you know what jazz dance is? Think again. People’s conception of jazz dance often falls short of the reality.…
Pittsburgh activists scramble in face of voter-ID law
Paul O’Hanlon is no stranger to overcoming obstacles: As an attorney with the Disability Rights Network, he’s accustomed to negotiating challenges many Pennsylvanians need never consider. But in the upcoming presidential election, he fears, voters may encounter barriers they cannot get around. And he’s not sure activists will be able to prevent it. “I feel…
Sweeney Todd
SWEENEY TODD continues through Sun., July 29. Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall 300 Beechwood Ave. Carnegie. 15106. 412-429-6262 or www.stage62.org Last year Stephen Sondheim published two books detailing the creation of such shows as West Side Story, Into the Woods and Company. I was especially interested in Sweeney Todd: The Demon of Fleet…
Asbestos at Schenley High may have been less prevalent than believed
Back when Pittsburgh school administrators were preparing to close Schenley High School, they had one word for parents and students who wanted to keep it open: Asbestos. The landmark Oakland building housed a diverse student body and popular programs, but by 2007 it was showing its 91 years. Plaster inside was deteriorating, and tests showed…
August: Osage County
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY continues through Sat., July 28. Grey Box Theatre 3595 Penn Ave. Lawrenceville. throughlinetheatre.org Everything about August: Osage County, by Tracy Letts, is big. The story is big. The cast is big. The script is big — three acts, with two intermissions. The personalities are big, especially Violet Weston, a chain-smoking old matron…
Suited to a T
We signed our three children up for T-ball over the summer, thinking it wouldn’t be too much of a time drain. The guilt of wanting our kids to do some kind of summer activity was starting to weigh on us. Plus, we had to prove to our friends that we did something with our kids other than…
Toyer: An Unavoidable Tragedy
TOYER continues through Aug 5. 3212 Joe Hammer Square Oakland. 312-334-2633 In many ways, Toyer, by Gardner McKay, is a throwback to the ’90s. A serial killer is on the loose (Silence of the Lambs, et al.). A strong, educated woman lives alone (Single White Female). A charming yet suspicious Average Joe shows up (The…
Savage Love
I am a hetero female, but one of my biggest fantasies is for a guy to dress up in women’s underwear. Not full-blown drag, just a teddy, fishnets and some heels. He doesn’t have to act like a woman: I just want him to parade around a bit. I’ve had the ovaries to bring this…
Suddenly Last Summer
SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER continues through Sat., July 28. The Summer Company in the Peter Mills Theater Rockwell Hall Duquesne University campus, Uptown. 412-243-5201 The pun is as irresistible as it is tasteless. The folks at the Summer Company have bitten off a bit more than they can chew with Tennessee Williams’ allegorical and poetic (if…
Short List: July 25 – August 1
Speaking by phone from the San Diego Comic-Con, Ed Piskor is having a day from an Ed Piskor cartoon. First he reports seeing “some crackheads” digging cans out of the trash. Then come muffled shouts on the line — “Jesus protesters,” Piskor reports, assailing the assembled geeks with shoddy megaphones. And don’t forget his recent…
Bricolage offers immersive, interactive theatrical experience STRATA
Bricolage presents STRATA Wed., Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Downtown. $40-60. STRATApittsburgh.com The promotional campaign for the novel and ambitious new Bricolage Productions show suggests (perhaps with a wink) that it’s interactive theater crossed with a personal-empowerment course. Audiences for STRATA are meant to “achieve brighter, clearer and happier living” through something called “iConsciousness®.” The posters depict…
La Cucina Flegrea
La Cucina Flegrea 100 Fifth Ave. No. 204, Downtown. 412-521-2082 Hours: Mon. 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Tue-Thu. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sat. 1-11 p.m.; Sun. 4-9 p.m. Prices: Antipasto $9-13; entrees $17-32 Liquor: Full bar We do not know why it is that Tuscany often seems to hog all the credit — in…
The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises Directed by: Christopher Nolan Starring: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt Christopher Nolan’s final piece of his ambitious Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, is certainly an entertaining feature, with reliable actors, sweeping special effects and a slinky new foil in Catwoman. At nearly three hours, you’ll…
Cure’s Justin Severino offers hog-butchering demonstrations, with a meal
On the stainless steel table in the middle of Cure’s Lawrenceville dining room in is a 260-pound “naked” pig. Chef Justin Severino introduces himself and begins a talk about the hows and whys of hog butchering, a Sunday-afternoon lesson which several dozen customers — a mix of regular Joes, foodies and restaurant insiders — have…
Did the state REALLY concede that voter fraud never happens?
Short answer: Not exactly. There’s been a lot of buzz about this Talking Points Memo report, which notes that when Pennsylvania’s Voter ID bill is argued before Commonwealth Court tommorrow, the state will not be arguing that in-person voter fraud has been a problem, or that it will be one in the coming November election.…
Police chief testifies in Miles trial
It seems as though Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper has become less critical of the three police officers accused of beating former CAPA high school student Jordan Miles than he was a year ago. In a deposition Harper gave in June 2011 he said the three officers — Michael Saldutte, David Sisak and Richard Ewing…
