Breaking Out
There was blood streaming down Andrew Heim’s forehead when he emerged from a hole in the ground during his escape from Western Penitentiary in January 1997. But Heim may not have cared. “It was 15 degrees out and all of us were pouring sweat,” he remembers. “It was unbelievable. The adrenaline rush…
Mass Movement: The Uncertainty Principle
In distant southern suburbs, orderly masses board the T at rush hour and disgorge themselves in Downtown subway stations, civilized cogs in a civilized transit machine. But for many Port Authority customers who do more than just float from home to work on Ward Cleaver’s schedule, things aren’t always so smooth. Wouldn’t…
War of the Worlds
Zero insight is needed to see Steven Spielberg’s remake of War of the Worlds as commentary on our terrorist-haunted, globally insecure times. Indeed, Spielberg’s alien-invasion scenario so bluntly appropriates the au courant iconography of disaster — smashed airplanes, ash-coated survivors, walls of handmade “missing” posters — that it’s fair to call it shameless.…
Assisted Living
Todd, a feckless young man who can find time in the morning for a little wake-and-bake but not a shave, works as a gofer at an assisted-living facility. After showing up late, he mops, helps to wheel residents to bingo, plays with a nurse’s young daughter, smokes some more pot and halfheartedly entertains some oldsters…
Rize
When MTV creates a reality series out of krumpin’, or Fox American Idol-izes it, David LaChapelle will be able to proudly display his film Rize as the flag he planted before corporations profited the street-based dance style to death. Krumpin’, or clownin’, comprises moves like Crip Walkin’, Harlem Shakin’, St. Louis…
Fool for the Movies
George Romero notwithstanding, for a stretch there in 2004, Pittsburgh’s most widely screened resident filmmaker just might have been some Fool you never heard of. And he managed it with silent, black-and-white movies not much longer than the average TV commercial. Drew Richardson, a.k.a. Drew the Dramatic Fool, is a theatrical clown who lives…
Films That Go Boom!
There’s sure to be plenty of drama on screen — and off — at The Andy Warhol Museum this weekend when rarely shown film Boom! is presented as part of the Films That Corrupted John Waters series. The 1968 Joseph Losey film, adapted by Tennessee Williams from his own play The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop…
Hyeholde
Location: Coraopolis Heights Road, Moon Township. 412-264-3116 Hours: Mon.-Fri. 4-9 p.m.; Sat. 5-10 p.m. Prices: Picnics, $50-75 for two; appetizers, $10-14; entrees, $19-49 Fare: Surprisingly contemporary American Atmosphere: To the manor born Liquor: Full selection; no bar Birthday? Anniversary? Promotion to Head Muckety-Muck, complete with company credit card? For every special occasion from proms to…
False Prophet
Ron Suber, the former Pittsburgh school-board member who last year pled guilty to raping a 7-year-old girl, was back in court recently, seeking to have his sentence reduced. Suber has claimed the “spirit of Satan” entered his body, but the old “the Devil made me do it” excuse apparently didn’t make Judge Donald Machen sympathetic:…
Foolishness on Parade
What’s so funny about a bald lesbian walking her lover like a dog down the street with a chrome leash? Plenty, acknowledges Sue Kerr, prominent Pittsburgh lesbian and budding news-media critic. What pisses her off is what she considers shallow news coverage of the June 18 Gay Pridefest parade in Dahntahn Pittsburgh. …
What Went Wrong in Ohio
In the wake of the 2004 presidential election, opponents of President George W. Bush speculated, some quite forcefully, about vote-rigging. There was a brief flurry of such dissent, but really, once John Kerry conceded, the outcome was inevitable: The protests would fade, and Bush would head back for four more years in the…
Zinsters on Parade
It’s been a good seven or eight years since the end of the so-called zine explosion, which, in case you missed it, was when mainstream media outlets like Details and the Washington Post seemed to weigh in on an almost weekly basis about the virtues of cut-and-paste self-publishing. But don’t bother…
Every time I hear about Pittsburgh’s financial woes, I think about the tax-exempt banking institutions. Why are they exempt from the city’s business privilege tax?
Those damned financial institutions, always getting one over on the rest of us. Who do they think they are? Pittsburgh City Paper? It’s true: Newspapers don’t pay the tax either. But I can raise a couple points in our defense. First, it really isn’t a great tax to begin with. And…
Letting Chips Fall
Ed Delancey’s ice-cream shop is the pride of his Weirton, West Virginia neighborhood. Nestled in a lush, residential section off Pennsylvania Avenue, his quaint little store has a façade decorated in a country motif and homemade country crafts sitting outside. “Hidden Treasures Ice Cream and More,” promises the sign. The business is not unlike one…
