Harp to harp: Mikaela Davis plays Club Cafe tonight
Mikaela Davis Harpist Mikaela Davis will play Club Cafe tonight. The Rochester, N.Y., native plays live with two other members (backing her on drums, guitar, keys, etc.) Their sound is like that of indie rock, but the focal point is harp, not guitar. The shift is focus is refreshing and the result is an elegant…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/05/14
Video Archive Algae in water treatment plants/lakes from lawn care products like fertilizer. Why must people have manicured “carpet” grass lawns. HBO – Nixon tapes released. Passing of James Brady. All-male courts make legislative decisions. What happended to women’s rights? Girl on YouTube asks “Am I pretty or ugly.” It’s almost a form of self-abuse.…
Panic! At The Disco enchants Stage AE
Panic! At The Disco played a near sold-out show at Stage AE Friday night to a raucous crowd. P!ATD frontman Brendon Urie was the star of the “show,” clad in gold blazer and tight pants with the rest of the band suited similarly. The Nevada native welcome the crowd after a few songs in. “Welcome…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/04/14
Video Archive misuse of ‘less’ & ‘few;’ flout vs. flaunt; cats are exploitave captives; Guantanamo Bay court allows groin searches; average major Pentagon purchase is 40% over budget; Bill Clinton in town this past weekend to say farewell to Richard Mellon Scaife; media referred to at the Fourth Estate / 4th branch of government; network…
Free admission to Phipps on Monday
Get in to see the Butterfly Forest and other attractions at no charge. Dan Willis has details in Program Notes.
Free admission to Phipps on Monday
On Monday, Phipps Conservatory offers free admission to all patrons, thanks to a grant from the Jack Buncher Foundation. The entire conservatory, including its children’s Discover Garden, Rooftop Edible Garden and Aquatic Garden, will be accessible free of charge. Also available is Phipps’ Summer Flower Show, where a miniature model train leads patrons through a…
Pittsburgh-born Illusionist Performs on New TV Program
Grandinetti will walk through steel
Lynn Cullen Live 08/01/14
Video Archive Audio Only Archive
EPA Carbon-Emissions Hearings
Proponents tout health benefits, opponents stoke fears
Lynn Cullen Live 07/31/14
Video Archive Audio Only Archive
Rally Tomorrow for Carbon-Pollution Rules
Mayor Peduto, others to speak
Saskatoon’s shredding Reignwolf plays Pittsburgh tonight
Photo courtesy of Dana Yavin Reignwolf Reignwolf plays Brillobox tonight at 9:30 p.m. Saskatoon’s Jordan Cook makes up the rocky, fuzzy, bluesy band, with some help from others with on tour. Think a one-man Black Keys, but who rocks harder. During his live shows, Cook has been known to play guitar and drums simultaneously. Having…
Romance at Kinetic Theatre Company
Final three performances for gleefully offensive farce
2nd Annual Summer Beerfest
2nd Annual Pittsburgh Summer Beerfest was held at Stage AE on July 18th & 19th. Pittsburgh City Paper was on-site as the presenting sponsor. Check out the photos from the event!
Short List: July 30 – August 6
SPOTLIGHT: Wed., Aug. 6 — Comedy Comedian Myq Kaplan has opened shows by saying, “I’m glad that you guys seem like you’re my demographic, which is people who know the word ‘demographic.'” The one-liner acknowledged the often nerdily cerebral style of a guy who jokes, “My girlfriend said she wanted me to dominate her. So…
Get On Up
Tate Taylor’s bio-pic Get On Up tracks James Brown’s life, from an impoverished youth in Jim Crow Georgia to fame and fortune as the Godfather of Soul. Taylor rarely deviates from the standard bio-pic model — even the flashbacks, time-jumps and asides to the camera are perfunctory these days — and the rush to pack…
Open Bottle Bistro
Open Bottle Bistro 5884 Ellsworth Ave., Shadyside. 412-450-8217 Hours: Mon. 5-10 p.m.; Tue.-Fri. lunch 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., dinner 5-10 p.m.; Sat. lunch 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m., dinner 4:30-10:30 p.m. Prices: Lunch $5-15, dinner $7-20 Liquor: Full bar Dave DeSimone, longtime leader of the local wine scene, recently ended a two-year stint running a wonderfully traditional French restaurant…
I, Origins
You’ve waited for it, and here it is: a biometric, metaphysical, faith-vs.-fact thriller starring eyeballs! Plus, Michael Pitt — who portrays a molecular biologist obsessed with the evolution of the eyeball. He’s also obsessed with Sofi (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), a free-spirited exotique with great eyeballs. He’s less obsessed with his lab partner (Brit Marling), but she…
At Mt. Washington’s Altius restaurant, Alan Uchrinscko offers a high-minded take on wine
Alan Uchrinscko, general manager and director of wine and spirits at Mount Washington’s Altius restaurant, is thrilled that Pittsburgh’s wine culture is deepening. “People’s palates have really opened up,” he says. “They’re much more willing to experiment.” And Uchrinscko, whose résumé includes work at New York City’s Burgundy Wine Company and as the sommelier of…
Lucy
Learned professor Morgan Freeman explains that there is a huge part of the brain that humans are not using — perhaps best evidenced by the junky cinematic fare we thoughtlessly shovel in there. And, yes, you’ll need only a fraction of your noggin to take in Luc Besson’s sci-fi actioner, but it’s a kicky thrill…
The Pittsburgh Public Market is raising funds to build a Market Kitchen
As a former restaurant owner, Kelly James knows what it takes to operate a traditional restaurant. Her experience running the former Sugar Café, in Dormont, was rewarding — but also challenging and expensive. Now the manager of the soon-to-open Market Kitchen at the Strip District’s Pittsburgh Public Market, James says, if “there had been a…
A Summer’s Tale
There’s something about everyday life in France that makes for compelling cinema. But long before Richard Linklater, there was Eric Rohmer, a master of both the mundane and the humane. Do we really need to watch a young man unlock the gate to a beach house and unpack his bag at the start of Rohmer’s…
ChaRon Don returns after a few years of travel with a new album full of ideas
Album art can often be tangential, an afterthought — once the album is complete, the musician does a quick photo shoot, or commissions an abstract painting. But for ChaRon Don, the artwork on his new album, Voice of the Voiceless, says everything: The Pittsburgh rapper appears in a tuxedo and combat boots, in blackface (he’s…
Urban Music Education Project lets ChaRon Don help raise new MCs
An early chance encounter with producer and engineer Riccardo Shulz — who also sits on the faculty of the music school at Carnegie Mellon University — provided a connection that put local rapper ChaRon Don (real name: ChaRon White) into schools as a teaching artist. Back when White and DJ Huggy were still high-schoolers looking…
Seizure Man specializes in cassettes
If you want something done right, do it yourself: That’s the philosophy behind Pittsburgh music label Seizure Man. “We kind of have a collective, at this point,” says co-owner Molly Spear. “We’re all just working together, trying to elevate each other right now.” Musicians themselves, Spear and co-owner Jacob Campbell saw a void in the…
Critics’ Picks: July 30 – August 6
[HIP HOP] + THU., JULY 31 Don’t call it a comeback. It is, after all, only the first year for the two-day Cultured Steel Hip Hop Festival, presented by 1Hood and R.A.R.E. Nation. Day one kicks things off with the opening of 40 Years of Hip-hop Arts & Culture, an exhibit of classic hip-hop photos…
The Skinny Building: an unlikely preservation success story for an unlikely Downtown structure
Historic-preservation battles emerge in the public realm to save old buildings, but every once in a while the fights seem nearly as old as the buildings themselves. The recent announcement by Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation that grant funds will go toward a facade restoration of Downtown’s Skinny Building and the adjacent Roberts Jewelers building,…
On the Record with Shelley Johansson of Flood City Music Festival
FLOOD CITY MUSIC FESTIVAL with BOZ SCAGGS, LEFTOVER SALMON FEATURING BILL PAYNE, LEE FIELDS & THE EXPRESSIONS, more. 2 p.m. Fri., Aug. 1. Continues through Sun., Aug. 3. Peoples Natural Gas Park, 90 Johns St., Johnstown. $10-140. floodcitymusic.com The Flood City Music Festival began 25 years ago as part of an event commemorating the anniversary…
Alexandre Arrechea’s witty No Limits is a play on iconic architecture
NO LIMITS continues through Sept. 6. Sculptures at 4 Gateway Center, Gateway Center Park and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. trustarts.org Dear Laurel Foundation: You do great things for Pittsburgh and Southwestern PA, so why must you continue to subject us to Seward Johnson sculptures? It was bad enough when the sculptures were life-size…
Anti-immigrant sentiment reaches fever pitch over Central American child refugees
The headline from the July 20 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette seemed innocuous enough: “Residents express concerns over arrival of child immigrants in Emsworth.” The story described the impending arrival of as many as 30 Central American refugees under the age of 12 at the Holy Family Institute, a Catholic-run orphanage. The children will be just a few…
Walldogs at Hatch Arts Collective
WALLDOGS continues through Sat., Aug. 2. Hatch Arts Collective, Artists Image Resource, 518 Foreland St., North Side. $10 hatcharts.org A single white wall endures graffiti, advertising, a prophetic message and a hastily designed mural. Using four interwoven tales, Hatch Arts Collective’s new play Walldogs examines the nature of art and artists. It’s staged at Artists…
Signed Prints: Artist’s work brings voice of the homeless off the street and into galleries
On the 579-North off-ramp onto East Ohio Street on Pittsburgh’s North Side, Willie Baronet spots a man holding a sign: “Homeless and Hungry Anything Helps.” He beeps the horn, rolls down the window and asks if the man would be willing to sell the sign. “Would I sell you my sign?” the man asks skeptically.…
Dancing at Lughnasa at Little Lake Theatre
DANCING AT LUGHNASA continues through Aug. 9. Lake Theatre, 500 Lakeside Drive South, Canonsburg. $12-20. 724-745-6300 or littlelaketheatre.org If you’re looking for an evening of visionary, mold-breaking hyper-theatricality, it would probably be best to avoid Little Lake Theatre’s production of Brian Friel’s Tony-winning 1992 drama Dancing at Lughnasa. And that’s not a criticism, since Friel…
Tom Foolery
Back in 2012, Gov. Tom Corbett achieved national notoriety while discussing a proposed law requiring women to get an ultrasound before having an abortion. If a woman didn’t want to see the image, he said, “I’m not making anybody watch. … You just have to close your eyes.” I suspect a lot of us will…
The Dumb Waiter at Dog & Pony Show
THE DUMB WAITER continues through Sat., Aug. 2. Dog & Pony Show at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre, 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $5-10. 412-728-2952 Ever have one of those days at work where the demands from “upstairs” make less and less sense as they grow ever more insistent? Then you already have some affinity for The Dumb…
Savage Love
I’m a straight guy who’s been in an open relationship for six years. I often seek out extracurricular activities, but I am unsure of how to bring up my situation. I wrote to a seduction blogger who often writes about open relationships, and his advice was to not mention it until I’ve had sex with…
A review of Jim Daniels’ story collection Eight Mile High
Eight Mile High By Jim Ray Daniels Michigan State University Press, 205 pp., $19.95 In Eight Mile High, Jim Ray Daniels covers familiar turf in surprising new ways. Like his earlier fiction, these 14 stories are set largely in working-class Detroit. But unlike 2007’s Mr. Pleasant and 2011’s Trigger Man, the new collection’s pieces are…
Stuff We Like
Water Steps, Riverfront Park. Less dramatic than, say, the Point State Park fountain, but it’s a nice spot to cool your feet — right alongside the bike/walking trail near PNC Park. And the kids love it. Rye Buck cocktail at Butcher and the Rye. Lemon, lime and ginger make this a perfect drink for a…
Boyhood
Boyhood Directed by: Richard Linklater Starring: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke Starts Fri., Aug. 1. Regent Square. “It’s always right now,” says a young man staring at the future. Though our lives have pasts and hopefully futures, it is always right now. Film, of course, is one technique used to “freeze” time, but what…
Narcissist
You are the moon insistent gravity of pull and push — no light, just stolen saturated reflections cloaking pores and scars in a wash of beauty. You draw close to feed until love sickens you and you disappear — a slivering sickle a ghost in the blue. You brood unbound on your cold dark side…
Lynn Cullen Live 07/30/14
Video Archive Holy Family vs. xenophobes; Edgar Snyder & estranged wife involved in nasty divorce; city no longer suing UPMC; if you need to be abreast of what’s happening in the Middle East, do it by watching Jon Stewart; Drunk History is the best show on TV right now; Waynesburg’s Rain Day; Groundhog Day rant;…
