Comedy game show seeks contestants for tomorrow
Touring “shame show” Loser comes to town, and wants you … to potentially embarrass yourself. Dan Willis has details in Program Notes.
Comedy game show seeks contestants for tomorrow
Audiences also sought for “shame show” at Arcade
Market Square’s NOLA set to re-open July 15
Think of it as a mid-summer Mardi Gras.After being closed for several months due to damage from a fire, NOLA on the Square will re-open on July 15 with lunch service. Pittsburghers can once again indulge in po-boys, crawfish, gumbo and other Creole cuisine, for lunch and dinner, as well as kick back with some…
Obama visits Pittsburgh to push manufacturing
Today President Barack Obama is visiting Pittsburgh as part of an initiative to push increased manufacturing innovation and entrepreneurship. According to the White House 646,000 jobs have been added in the manufacturing sector since February 2010 and the president would like to see the trend continue. More than 90 mayors from cities across the country,…
What Pittsburghers need to know about the Act 47 plan
What is Act 47? Act 47 is a state oversight program for “financially distressed” cities in Pennsylvania. The state tries to help cities turn around their finances and operations. The name comes from the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act (Act 47 of 1987). What’s the history of Act 47? Pittsburgh has been “financially distressed” for 10…
Lynn Cullen Live 06/17/14
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; grin & bear it through aging — and have fun!; if you could go back to 2003, would you want to invade Iraq?; US’ poor minimum wage; Lyft & Uber won’t back down; how rideshare services compare to Airbnb; gay couples can marry in PA, but they can also still…
Witnesses offer conflicting versions of Pride altercation
Witnesses to an altercation between rookie Pittsburgh police officer Souroth Chatterji and 19-year-old Ariel Lawther at Delta Foundation’s annual Pride festival yesterday offered conflicting accounts of how Lawther wound up being dragged from the crowd by Chatterji by the neck and hair, just before he struck her several times and arrested her. According to the…
Peduto promises swift investigation of Pride altercation
Photo by Alex Zimmerman In a press conference that lasted just a few minutes, mayor Bill Peduto promised a thorough and speedy investigation of altercation involving a Pride attendee and Pittsburgh police officer. A 16-second video appears to show officer Souroth Chatterji dragging 19-year-old Ariel Lawther by the neck from a crowd of people, striking…
Video surfaces of altercation between police officer and Pride attendee
A video is making the rounds on social media that appears to show a Pittsburgh police officer in an altercation with an attendee of Pride Pittsburgh, the Delta Foundation’s annual LGBT pride festival. (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,…
Lynn Cullen Live 06/16/14
Video Archive Were there VCRs in the 70s?; Iraq & ISIS; the mystery of Asa Carter; kids in Pittsburgh love to play with marbles; Obits: Chuck Noll, Casey Kasem, Ultra Violet, Miriam Burbank. Audio Only Archive
Interview: Modern Baseball plays The Smiling Moose tonight
Modern Baseball (From left) Sean Huber, Ian Farmer, Jacob Ewald, Brendan Lukens Philly’s Modern Baseball, a four-piece emo band have accomplished what some bands never can, in a matter of a few years. They’ve toured the U.S. and Europe, are signed to a powerhouse indie label (Run For Cover Records) and have charted on the…
Lynn Cullen Live 06/13/14
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; clergy vs. UPMC; are we going back to Iraq?; Obama is in really good shape; marijuana is an excellent alternative to pain pills; Republicans’ lack of diversity; Pgh Public School teacher performance review results; Dan Savage film festival moved from Dormont to Lawrenceville; Caller: Joe. Audio Only Archive
Chvrches impress in first Pittsburgh show
Chvrches, Stage AE,
48 Hour Film Project deadlines approach
Monday’s the early-registration deadline for this annual contest for making short films in a weekend. Dan Willis has a plot synopsis in Program Notes.
48 Hour Film Project deadlines approach
Early registration ends Monday
Community concerned with transparency in lower Hill development
About 20 people attended a zoning board meeting this morning to speak out against the Pittsburgh Penguins’ plan for developing the lower Hill District. They also hoped to hear an update on the Penguins’ proposed housing plan, which they say will exclude low-income residents. “The Penguins have not met with the community for many many…
Lynn Cullen Live 06/12/14
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski; being mistaken for Joan Collins; swapping UPMC stories; Jeffrey Romoff’s nephew enough to make your skin crawl on new Howard Stern reality show; what’s annoying at the Arts Festival this year; art forger misspells “Pollock;” Irish septic babies; local weather people cut into network news to freak out about a…
Citizens rally for increased education funding
At a rally at the Pittsburgh Public School District building Wednesday, activists criticized Gov. Tom Corbett for cuts to education funding in the state budget and called on the public to vote Corbett out of office in November. “We’re all in this struggle together and our struggle is for fair funding for our schools,” said…
Interview: Roy Vucino of Red Mass, playing Club Cafe tonight
For guitarist Roy Vucino, a long-time fixture on Montreal’s punk scene, the art is everything. Though he makes his bones as a musical journeyman, writing and recording tracks for television, his artistic ambitions are not limited to music alone. More than anything, it is Vucino’s sense of grandiosity that defines his vision. As such, his…
In their atmosphere: Hip-hop duo plays Mr. Small’s tonight
Photo by Dan Monick Atmosphere Atmosphere make its way to Mr. Small’s tonight, some 20 odd years since it was created. The indie rap group, comprised of Slug (Sean Daley) and Ant (Anthony Davis), hails from Minneapolis, Minn., and paved the way for other rappers in its scene. After vigorous touring, topping the Billboard charts…
Three Rivers Arts Festival’s Juried Visual Art Exhibition
Some highlights from this year’s show
Detroit’s Tyvek play Pittsburgh tonight
Photo by Robb DiMaria Tyvek Tyvek will play Gooski’s tonight, one of only five shows on the band’s “Here Comes Summer” tour. The lo-fi punk band started its tour June 7th in Detroit, their hometown, where much of its identity comes from. The band is named after Tyvek plastic wrap and the visual pollution it…
Public comment sought on search for city’s next police chief
photo by Rebecca Nuttall Mayor Bill Peduto introduces new City Public Safety Director Stephen Bucar Mayor Bill Peduto wants to know what you want in a new police chief. Peduto and Acting Public Saety Director Stephen Bucar announced this morning the process for soliciting the public’s input in the selection of a new chief. On…
Maree ReMalia’s The Ubiquitous Mass of Us explores how we take up space
Maree ReMalia/merrygogo perform THE UBIQUITOUS MASS OF US 8 p.m. Sat., June 14. New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. $20. 412-320-4610 or newhazletttheater.org Outer space may be the final frontier, but it is the space we humans occupy on Earth that has inspired countless choreographers and their works. The latest to address…
Melinda Colaizzi releases her first full-length of bluesy rock
MELINDA COLAIZZI CD RELEASE. 8:30 p.m. Sat., June 14. Pittsburgh Winery, 2815 Penn Ave., Strip District. $20 (includes a copy of Witness on CD). 412-566-1000 or pittsburghwinery.com Melinda Colaizzi went to Berklee College of Music in Boston, and spent some time in Los Angeles — but ultimately, the Forest Hills native ended up returning to…
The Fault in Our Stars
The Fault in Our Stars Directed by: Josh Boone Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort “I’m a grenade,” terminally ill teen Hazel explains, “and at some point, I’m going to explode. … It’s my responsibility to minimize the casualties.” But besotted Augustus is willing to risk any collateral damage. That’s love, life, death and life-after-a-death, all…
Benefit show helps punk community remember Ultimatics bassist Tommy Osh
TOMMY OSH TRIBUTE Featuring THE ULTIMATICS, TRASH VEGAS, more. 7 p.m. Sat., June 14. Rex Theater, 1602 E. Carson St., South Side. $10. 412-381-6811 or www.rextheater.com When Thomas O’Shanick — known in the punk scene as Tommy Osh — was killed in a car wreck last February, it was tough on lifelong friend and Ultimatics…
Edge of Tomorrow
In a season marked by tiresome sequels and remakes, it’s amusing that one of the more entertaining popcorn movies is Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow, in which the same thing happens over and over and over. In a troubled future in which Europe has been invaded by gigantic alien squid-things, one hapless soldier (Tom Cruise)…
Grand Piano’s new LP showcases rock and brass
GRAND PIANO LP RELEASE with ROGER HARVEY AND THE WILD LIFE, CHET VINCENT AND THE BIG BEND, MORGAN ERINA 8 p.m. Fri., June 13. Rex Theater, 1602 E. Carson St., South Side. $10. 412-381-6811 or www.rextheater.com Grand Piano’s new LP, Leap Year, didn’t start out with a concept … but it sort of came together…
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Hiccup and his pet dragon, Toothless, are back in the continuing saga of ancient Vikings who live with tame dragons, adapted from Cressida Cowell’s books. In this sequel to the 2010 animated adventure, Hiccup discovers the world beyond his home island is a considerably more dangerous place. There are dragon poachers, a fearsome leader of…
Critics’ Picks: June 11 – 17
[ELECTRO-RAP] + FRI., JUNE 13 So, the idea of a white dude doing funny raps might sound at best overdone, and at worst a really bad idea — but bear with us. Andy D, from Bloomington, Ind., makes electronic beats and raps in a way that’s not serious, but also isn’t just a bunch of…
New Releases
Troxum Gaia Omen (Telefuture) Five songs of synth-based, mid-paced, sometimes-danceable pop, though dancing isn’t necessarily the purpose here — Troxum brings us shimmering musical contemplations and encourages reflection throughout. The pervading sound is spacey and fantastic, jibing with the thematic elements about Earth, its parts and its environs. A nice, easy listen, but with depth;…
Happy ending for Dan Savage’s amateur-porn film festival, after it moves from Dormont to Lawrenceville
The Hump! Tour, a festival of independently made dirty movies curated by sex columnist Dan Savage, has been touring cities in the U.S. and Canada. But the festival will not be appearing at Dormont’s Hollywood Theater, as originally planned, because of objections raised by borough officials last week. Organizers have found a new venue for…
Art exhibit canceled after dispute over boycott of Israel
This is a captioned slideshow of images of work from the cancelled Mattress Factory exhibition Sites of Passage: Borders, Walls & Citizenship, curated by Tavia LaFollette. A map of Palestine made of broken glass. Rubber bullets lying beneath a tree like fallen olives. A few photographs are about all that remains of an art exhibit…
Paper Targets
Sometimes it seems that the gun debate has become a form of trench warfare, with activists and politicians firing above each other’s heads, if only to ensure that supporters and campaign contributors keep supplying them with ammo. Take House Bill 2243, introduced last month by Ford City Republican Jeff Pyle. The bill prohibits any business…
Savage Love
Come Saturday, I will be a high school grad! The only thing I’m worried about besides my hopes and dreams, and making it in the real world? My sex life. I’m a virgin. When I go online, I see all my friends and peers having awesome, smoking-hot sex lives. I am obsessed with this guy…
Wood Street Galleries gets Electrified
ELECTRIFIED continues through June 22. Wood Street Galleries, 601 Wood St., Downtown. 412-471-5605 or woodstreetgalleries.org The exhibition Electrified combines the work of Edwin van der Heide and Alexandre Burton, two artists working independently while employing as their primary material the same unexpected element: electricity. The exhibition is inspired by the legacy of Nicola Tesla (1856-1943),…
Short List: June 12 – 19
MAIN EVENT: Fri., June 13 — Festival Now that Pennsylvania at last enjoys marriage equality, like all the other cool states, Pride Pittsburgh should be more celebratory than ever. The culminating weekend of the Delta Foundation’s annual festival — among Pittsburgh’s biggest parties — begins with the June 13 Pub Crawl ($32), a chauffered bus…
Quick hits on three Arts Fest exhibits.
THREE RIVERS ARTS FESTIVAL continues through Sun., June 15. Downtown. 3riversartsfest.org Quick hits on three exhibits at the Three Rivers Arts Festival: New federal limits on power-plant emissions have critics bemoaning a “war on coal.” New Mexico-based photographer Carlan Tapp’s The China Express explores Big Coal’s war on us. The 40 black-and-white prints trace the…
Ten Penny
Ten Penny 960 Penn Ave., Downtown. 412-318-8000 Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun. brunch 10 a.m.-2 p.m., dinner 5-9 p.m. Prices: Appetizers, soups and salads $7-14; entrees $14-32 Liquor: Full Bar Named in honor of some old nails discovered during construction, Ten Penny is a restaurateur’s latest run at spinning Pittsburgh’s…
Unseam’d Shakespeare’s Orlando
ORLANDO Unseam’d Shakespeare Co. at the Henry Heymann Theatre, Stephen Foster Memorial, Oakland. $15-30. 888-718-4253 or unseamd.org Fast and outrageous — two good words to describe Unseam’d Shakespeare Co.’s production of Orlando. In this 2010 adaptation by Sarah Ruhl, Virginia Woolf’s talky (and cheeky) 1928 novel Orlando: A Biography becomes a wild theatrical play of…
Atlas Bottle Works offers new Butler Street destination for beer drinkers
When I lived in Lawrenceville, I sometimes felt like I was in the opening number of an urban musical. Walking my dog down Butler Street, I’d see Roger and Chris working the bar at Franktuary, Emily arranging the latest styles at Mid-Atlantic Mercantile, and I always half-hoped that Dom would step out from behind the…
Waiting for Godot at PICT Classic
WAITING FOR GODOT continues through June 21. Charity Randall Theatre, Stephen Foster Memorial, 4301 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $25-48. 412-561-6000 or picttheatre.org Apparently I’ve been mispronouncing the title since my ancient undergraduate days, when Samuel Beckett’s 1949* classic first crossed my consciousness as one week of a Modern Theater class. The professor and my fellow students…
Dino Lopreiato is a baker by day, drummer by night
Local music fans are used to seeing Dino Lopreiato behind the drums in bands like Chaibaba and Machete Kisumontao. But you can also find him behind a great big table of bread at local farmers’ markets, representing Vibo’s Italian Bakery, the Brackenridge operation he owns and runs with his family. Lopreiato’s mother started Vibo’s —…
Acting Out: The Pittsburgh Pride Theater Festival
ACTING OUT 8 p.m. Thu., June 12, and 8 p.m. Fri., June 13. Pittsburgh Pride Theater Festival at Pittsburgh Playwrights, 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $15-20. 412-256-8109 or pittsburghpridetheaterfestival.org Acting Out is the sixth annual edition of the Pittsburgh Pride Theater Festival. And this brisk, 90-minute anthology of four new LGBTQ-themed one-acts by local playwrights —…
Dan Savage’s amateur-porn film festival depicts erotica “with humor and compassion”
Each year, the submissions to the Hump! Film Festival reflect some inexplicable new trend. “One year, we got half-a-dozen James Bond parodies, even though there wasn’t a big Bond movie in the theaters and we never suggested we wanted to see that,” says Dan Savage, founder and curator of the homemade-pornography festival. “A couple years…
Noises Off at Pittsburgh Public Theater
NOISES OFF continues through June 29. Pittsburgh Public Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Downtown. $15-55. 412-316-1600 or www.ppt.org Pay attention, because this might be confusing: In Michael Frayn’s 1982 farce Noises Off, now at the Public Theater, a British troupe performs the first act (and only the first act) of a sex farce called Nothing On…
Ida
In 1962 Poland, a young woman named Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska) is about to take her vows as a nun; an orphan, she has been raised in a rural convent. But first she must visit her only known relative, her aunt Wanda (Agata Kulesza), living in the city. The brusque Wanda has some news for her:…
Local dance troupes and voguing battle highlight PrideFest’s dance showcase
“Ladies with an attitude, fellows that were in the mood / Don’t just stand there, let’s get to it / Strike a pose, there’s nothing to it.” Madonna’s 1990 call to vogue lives at this year’s PrideFest Pittsburgh. The free June 15 street fair’s dance showcase on Liberty Avenue includes newcomers True T Entertainment’s voguing…
Palo Alto
This coming-of-age drama is the directorial debut of Gia Coppola (granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola, niece of Sofia), and adapted from short stories penned by actor James Franco, who also appears. Over a few weeks, it follows four teens — sensitive April (Emma Roberts), reckless Freddy (Nat Wolff), even-more-sensitive Teddy (Jack Kilmer, son of Val)…
Lynn Cullen Live 06/11/14
Video Archive Eric Cantor not conservative enough; say goodbye to immigration reform?; Jeb Bush too rational to be Republican candidate for prez; over 70 school shootings since Sandy Hook; no entertainment value in talk radio anymore; no other country would put up with the gun violence that we do; colourful classrooms a distraction for kids;…
