Lynn Cullen Live 06/12/12
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan ( who had a little too much grappa last night ); Jerry Sandusky trial: testimonies, people who turned their heads; passing of Ron Morris ( WPTT ); what doctors can learn from veterinarians; a physician is a veterinarian that only treats one species; obese animals suffer from diabetes, high blood…
Global Navigators at Space and Wood Street
A notable element of the Distinctively Dutch arts festival was a preponderance of multimedia. I didn’t catch all the festival performances, but nearly every one I did see incorporated video heavily, from the performance art of Wunderbaum’s Detroit Dealers and PIPs:lab’s Diespace to the sensory overload of JacobTV’s avant-opera The News. No surprise, then, that…
Lynn Cullen Live 06/11/12
Video Archive Sandusky trial is under way; how in death, a woman can inspire people to be better; a life well-lived is an extraordinary thing; 3-year old Homewood girl’s story of needing to be strong, resilient; Mad Hot Ballroom; “job creators;” what jobs are regular people supposed to do?; public vs. private sector; John Shick’s…
Squonk Opera’s GO Roadshow at the Arts Fest
Folks departing the fest (and likely the wonderful set by the Carolina Chocolate Drops) and then heading up Penn Avenue last night ran smack into the world premiere of Squonk’s latest. It’s a theatrically minded art-rock concert performed on the back of a flatbed truck. I previewed the show for CP, even sitting in on…
Transit protest calls out Corbett, results in arrests
City police arrested nearly a dozen people today during a protest of pending Port Authority service cuts and Gov. Tom Corbett. After marching through Downtown to rally in front of UPMC and Corbett’s Pittsburgh office, a group of protestors sat in the intersection of Fifth and Wood chanting After giving demonstrators three verbal warnings, officers…
Wilson Center Head to Depart
André Kimo Stone Guess has decided not to renew his contract as president and chief executive of the August Wilson Center for African American Culture. But Guess says he’s leaving, in part, because he’s accomplished the goals he set when he came to the Center two years ago. Those goals included: improving the Center’s arts…
Honcho Debut Party ft. Mike Servito
Editor’s note: Unfortunately, we just got wind that Alaska Thunderfuck procured enough of the aforementioned spaceship items and will no longer be in attendance. Some Tweetbot spread her twitter handle all about the interwebs and she instantaneously collected enough followers to make her spaceship run once again. We may get to see her in another…
1,2,3 releases new “Scared But Not That Scared” video
1,2,3 has premiered its new video for “Scared But Not That Scared”, directed by Sue-Ling Braun. The track comes from the band’s 2011 album New Heaven, released by Frenchkiss Records. The band features former members of local indie-rock staples The Takeover UK. Check out the video below.
Three Rivers Arts Festival
Three Rivers Arts Festival is a 10-day celebration of the arts held annually in Downtown Pittsburgh. The Three Rivers Arts Festival quickly grew from the “little outdoor art show” to what is today the region’s largest multidisciplinary showcase of visual art and performing arts. Despite a rapid growth, the Festival’s mission to connect the community…
Lynn Cullen Live 06/7/12
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski; Warhol got shot the same day at Bobby Kennedy; origin of 15 minutes of fame; former WTAE reporter Paul Long was quite a pilot; Warhol’s burial place; archetypes & stereotypes; gay men & metrosexuals; Quentin Crisp: The Naked Civil Servant; the Donald & Miss PA; bionic boosts for athelets; Jamie…
Code Orange Kids in the studio recording Deathwish debut
Local hardcore band Code Orange Kids have recently entered God City Studios in Massachusetts to record its debut full-length album for Deathwish, Inc. The Kids are laying down tracks with Kurt Ballou (guitarist of Converge) at the helm, who has been responsible for instant hardcore classics by Converge, Have Heart, Modern Life Is War, and…
Local rapper Ray Dawn could play the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival — with your help
Local rapper Ray Dawn, self-billed as “your favorite law school dropout [turned] rapper,” is currently in a heated battle in the final round to play the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival. Dawn is up against fellow rappers Ciph Boogie and Red Pill & Hir-O for the slot on the June 21st showcase for the festival. Today…
Braddock’s American Brasserie selects new cocktail – with public’s help
Sometimes, as Al Gore can attest, it’s not enough to convince the voters: You have to win over the judges as well. So it was with a whiskey-cocktail competition held by Downtown restaurant Braddock’s American Brasserie. Seeking a fresh new cocktail for its summer menu, Braddock’s let its fans weigh in. “We live and breathe…
Melissa Etheridge plays her first Pride festival here in Pittsburgh
MELISSA ETHERIDGE at PRIDE IN THE STREET. 6 p.m. Sat., June 9. Liberty Avenue between Ninth and 10th streets. $32. 18 and over. 412-246-4451 or pittsburghpride.org “This is going to be a different kind of concert than I have ever done before,” explains Melissa Etheridge, about her upcoming show during Pittsburgh Pride festival. “It’s going…
Eating Local
BEECHVIEW FOOD FEST 9 a.m. -1 p.m., Sat., June 9, corner of Broadway Avenue and Hampshire Street, Beechview Gastronomically speaking, a lot has been going on in Beechview … and Kevin Costa of the Crested Duck Charcuterie wants to make sure people know about it. So he organized the community’s inaugural Food Fest, set for…
Hazelwood-born Sledgren makes a name as producer for Wiz
“I was always interested in music,” says the Hazelwood-born Sledgren. “I didn’t really want to be an artist, but I wanted to play a part in the music.” And it looks like he has: If you’ve listened to many of Wiz Khalifa’s mixtapes, you’ve likely heard Wiz calling out “Sledgro!” — a shout-out to his…
Three Rivers Arts Festival Juried Visual Art Exhibition
There’s a good bit of bodily anxiety on display in this annual showcase for regional artists. In this show at the Trust Arts Education Center, you can see it most bluntly in Kyla Groat’s installation “My Body Will Betray Me,” whose centerpiece is twinned wax casts of a woman’s torso, one with a breast, the…
CD Reviews
Carla Bianco All This Time (Self-released) These heartfelt piano-based songs showcase Bianco’s slick vocals, honed through her studio and stage career. Opening with the bouncy “Words Are in the Way,” the album alternates between mainstream balladry and mid-tempo pop, buoyed by drums, acoustic guitars and keys. A few songs, like the hard-luck “Angel Mama,” evoke…
The author of a new book says don’t expect gene-based therapies to save your bacon just yet.
His new book’s title might suggest otherwise. But Lee Gutkind, co-author of An Immense New Power to Heal: The Promise of Personalized Medicine, remains only “cautiously optimistic” about how the sequencing of the human genome can improve health care. Gutkind is the Pittsburgh native and veteran nonfiction author of works including Many Sleepless Nights, about…
Critics’ Picks: June 7 – 13
[JAZZ] + THU., JUNE 7 The year 1977 is usually associated with the breakout of British punk; it’s also the year Benny Jones established the Dirty Dozen Brass Band in New Orleans. The group has pioneered its own New Orleans jazz style by incorporating elements of funk and bebop into its songs. In its 35-year…
Squonk Opera’s GO Roadshow is a musical street spectacle on wheels
SQUONK OPERA performs GO Roadshow 9:45 p.m. Fri., June 8; and daytime and evening shows Sat., June 9, and Sun., June 10 Penn Avenue at Stanwix Street, Downtown; free; 3riversartsfest.org). For other GO Roadshow performance dates, see squonkopera.org Like many good new ideas, this one is really an old idea. The inimitable Squonk Opera’s latest…
Extremely Challenging: Adventure racing is way more than a jog through the park
UPCOMING RACES June 16: Pittsburgh Oyster Adventure Race, North Side. oysterracingseries.com June 23: Rachel Carson Trail Challenge, Harrison Hills Park (shorter distances available at other area parks). rachelcarsontrails.org/rct/challenge July 28: Ruckus Pittsburgh, Washington County Fairgrounds. runruckus.com Aug. 18: Moraine Adventure Dash, Moraine State Park. rootsrace.com Sept. 1: Run for Your Lives, Butler. runfor yourlives.com During…
The Pitmen Painters
THE PITMEN PAINTERS continues through June 23. Henry Heymann Theater Stephen Foster Memorial Oakland. 412-394-3353 or picttheatre.org At the height of her industry, Great Britain was hatched with railroad, choked with smoke and dissected by coal mines. We often forget that the world’s grandest empire was also a labyrinth of brick and cobblestone, where millions…
Lynn Cullen Live 06/06/12
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; Scott Walker survived the Wisconsin recall; public / private sector employers; pensions; when our side loses, we threaten to leave the country….when their side loses, they vow to take the country back; Sandusky trial under way; morning after pill doesn’t work the way the right-wingers think; sperm needs time to…
Gem of the Ocean
The Gem of the Ocean continues through June 24. 937 Liberty Ave. Downtown. pghplaywrights.com August Wilson found Pittsburgh a lot more interesting than I do. The writer created a 10-play series called “The Pittsburgh Cycle,” nine of which are set in Pittsburgh. If I wrote 10 plays about Pittsburgh, they’d all be set in the…
Missed Trial: In Pa. some insurers are keeping patients from experimental treatments
Fighting a tough battle with breast cancer (which later spread to her lymphatic system) since 1998, Brenda Brunner was thrilled seven years ago when she received the opportunity to go through an experimental treatment involving a drug in development that would hopefully inhibit cancer cells from spreading throughout her body. The treatment itself was covered…
Private Lives
PRIVATE LIVES continues through June 24. Pittsburgh Public Theatre 621 Penn Ave. Downtown. 412-316-1600 or ppt.org Private Lives is a very symmetrical comedy. Two couples arrive in France. Each is newly married, now honeymooning. The husband in the first couple (Elyot) was previously married. The wife in the second couple (Amanda) was also married. It…
Unhealthy Growth
At UPMC-East, UPMC’s $250 million Monroeville hospital, the floors are terrazzo, flecked with marble. Patients’ rooms have 42-inch TVs, and “smart glass” doors that can become opaque or transparent with the touch of a button. You can check your email from bed, or take a shower in a stall that, as one worker told the…
PrideFest features a free Pittsburgh dance showcase.
Pittsburgh PrideFest’s 100 MINUTES OF PITTSBURGH DANCE 2-4:45 p.m. Sun., June 10. Sixth and 10th streets near Liberty Avenue Downtown. Free. pittsburghpride.org There are casual dance fans, and there are those who buy season subscriptions. And then there are superfans like Richard Parsakian, whose love of dance counts as an obsession. Parsakian has been a…
Savage Love
Could you tell my boy to calm the heck down? Can’t seem to get him to get the difference between bestiality, necrophilia and screwin’ a bearskin rug. Emphasizing my usual sexual interests — which involve rope bondage, floggin’ and an e-stim unit — hasn’t worked. Logic isn’t helpin’ at all. I’m a gay man and…
Snow White and the Huntsman
Snow White and the Huntsman Directed by Rupert Sanders Starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron When you know how a story ends, you have to care deeply about how it gets there. Every familiar plot twist — and even the unfamiliar ones — must resonate with a touch of something that makes it worth…
The Intouchables
Although The Intouchables is “based on a true story,” the truth of it feels more emotional than literal: It’s about Philippe (François Cluzet), a wealthy French quadriplegic who, against the wishes of his staff, hires Driss (Omar Sy), a handsome, uncouth Senegalese immigrant and petty criminal, as his personal caretaker. Does Philippe hire Driss out…
The Fairy
In this lightly plotted but loopy French comedy, a night watchman at a harbor-town hotel — the sad-sackish Dom (Dominique Abel) — has his nightly routine interrupted by two guests. One is an Englishman (Philippe Martz), who steals all the pens; the other is a young woman named Fiona (Fiona Gordon), who claims to be…
Headhunters
There’s a Breaking Bad vibe to this Norwegian thriller-slash-dark-comedy, adapted from Jo Nesbo’s novel. Morten Tyldum’s film also depicts a relatively ordinary guy, whose discreet crime-on-the-side spirals out of control into a multi-corpse bloodbath, and who throughout never stops feeling superior and victimized. Roger (Aksel Hennie) is a successful corporate headhunter who also dabbles in…
Human Race
The last text message I read before squeezing my head into the pink swim cap was meant to be supportive. It was from my dad, who was on his way to watch me participate in my first triathlon — the pared-down, 16-mile course of the 2011 Pittsburgh Adventure and Triathlon Race. “Don’t drown,” it said.…
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
The setting may have changed from jungles to cities, but little else in Eric Darnell’s Madagascar 3 will strike viewers as out-of-the-ordinary. Picking up shortly after the conclusion of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, the film follows Alex the lion, Marty the zebra and other returning characters as they flee from a sadistic animal-catcher through Rome,…
Short List: June 6 – 13
Yes, we know: The Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh’s Big Gay Picnic was on Memorial Day weekend. But if there’s a Big Gay Weekend in Pittsburgh, it’s got to be the one culminating with the foundation’s annual Pride in the Streets and PrideFest celebrations. Not to slight events like June 8’s chauffeured, 16-bar Pub Crawl ($27-32),…
Reunited the Rubins
A fractious Jewish family tries to come together for the sake of their ailing mother, in Yoav Factor’s London-based dramedy. Most of the burden falls on Lenny (Timothy Spall), who must cajole, threatened and bribe his adult children into attending the seder meal. The grown kids are in prolonged feuds and it’s not surprising, given…
Yuva India
Yuva India 412 S. Craig Street Oakland. 412-681-5700 Hours: Lunch Mon.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; dinner Mon.-Thu. 5-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5-11 p.m. Prices: Soups and appetizers $3-9; entrees $11-17 Liquor: BYOB Star of India was part of Pittsburgh’s original constellation of Indian restaurants. Its rote Northern Indian cuisine was remarkable, then, for being available at all…
Health-care Blues
RESOURCES: Need insurance? Here’s where to start: Local Organizations Pittsburgh Musicians Union — AFM Local 60-471 “Legislative issues, job vacancies, health and welfare concerns are addressed and discussed in publications and online, in forums available to members.” Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council Members receive discounts on services through Fractured Atlas (see below). National Organizations Fractured Atlas…
