PublicSource finds Allegheny County police still keeping paper records
A recent report by City Paper media partner PublicSource finds that Allegheny County police still keep paper records, despite being one of the largest local departments in Pennsylvania and having spent millions in improvements to the force — money that was also supposed to support a new records management system.
Listen Up! March 11
Every Wednesday, we make a Spotify playlist containing tracks from artists covered in the current music section or included in our concert listings OR mentioned on the CP Weekend Podcast. Listen while you read!
Rudiak kicks off controller campaign
Natalia Rudiak kicks off her campaign for city controller.
Images Bar hosts fundraiser to benefit long-time bartender
Downtown’s Images Bar has remained one of Pittsburgh’s most popular gay bars for years. In a drag-show fundraiser tonight, the bar aims to support a staff member who has been serving the LGBT community since long before Images even existed.
Candidates file petitions for 2015 election in Allegheny County
Today was the deadline for filing petitions for the 2015 primary election in May. While many candidates had already announced their campaigns, there were some surprises at the Allegheny County Election Division.
Concert announcements: Rakim, Twin Peaks, Faster Pussycat, Iron Chic, more
It’s Tuesday, which means it must be time for some concert announcements. Here we go! You may have already heard THIS particular news, but on March 26, Rakim will make a stop at Mr. Smalls with Dead Prez, which sounds pretty sweet. Tickets are $25 and on sale now. On May 2, at the very same…
Pittsburgh police looking to expand LGBT recruitment, training
City police are looking to hire more LGBT officers.
Lynn Cullen Live 3/10/15
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Suz Day! Apple watches, peace talks, letter to Iran and Scott Walker. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
MP3 Monday: Backyard Kings
This week’s MP3 Monday offering comes from New Germany indie poppers Backyard Kings. “Teenagers” is the band’s first single from its forthcoming album, The Weekend, out May 30. Backyard Kings will play a Club Cafe release show that same night.
Lynn Cullen Live 3/09/15
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Lynn’s nightmare flight. Selma’s anniversary. Dennis Henderson, up standing teacher and community member, tells his story. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorses candidates for 2015 election
Today the Allegheny County Democratic Committee voted to endorse candidates for the 2015 election, but some wonder if the practice is outdated.
Trailer for Sale or Rent: Chappie
This film was not screened for critics locally, so we took a look at the trailer.
Q&A with “Orange is The New Black” writer Lauren Morelli, in Pittsburgh March 10 for LGBT fundraiser
Lauren Morelli, writer and co-producer of Orange is the New Black, is in town as the keynote speaker for the Women and Girls Foundation “Crossroads” conference next Tuesday, March 10 and will attend a “Night Out With Orange” benefit for Project Silk and the Delta Foundation that evening, 8 p.m. at Cruze Bar.
Pittsburgh teachers union endorses school board candidates
The Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers union announced their endorsements for the upcoming school board election.
Pittsburgh Poet Wins 2015 Whiting Award
Pitt lecturer Jenny Johnson garners prestige, $50,000 cash award.
Lynn Cullen Live 3/6/15
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. 53 months of job growth. DOW replaces AT&T with Apple. Oil train derailment in rural IL. Courts deliberate on AHA. Last known ebola case in Liberia released from hospital. Wolfe’s plan to tax essentials. PLCB considers allowing the sale of 12 packs. Anti-antisemitism on UCLA…
CP Weekend podcast for March 6-March 8: Photography exhibits, heavy metal and Andy Warhol
The CP Weekend podcast for March 6-March 8 is now available here on the City Paper website. In store for you this weekend: Get back to the land with a photography exhibit, turn your child into a mini Warhol, and bang your head at the Mr. Roboto Project. The podcast is hosted by our Music…
CP talks to director, actor of August Wilson’s “How I Learned What I Learned”
Playwright August Wilson’s last piece How I Learned What I Learned, a one-man show he performed for a couple of years before his death, is opening tonight at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. City Paper sat down with the show’s co-creator and director Todd Kreidler and actor Eugene Lee to talk about the show’s meaning and…
Pittsburgh’s inaugural ‘Winter Bike to Work Day’ tomorrow
Just close your eyes and pretend it’s not miserable outside.
Lynn Cullen Live 3/5/15
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. A fond farewell to Tom. Ringling Bros. to pull elephant act over the next four years. Jeb Bush calls for restraint in donations. Citizen Four provides an intimate look at Snowden’s confessions. The Fergusen police report. US ambassador to South Korean attacked. Audio Only Archive…
City, county leading the region, country with paid parental leave for municipal employees
When Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, she took time off — just 10 days — to have her first child. “I was the first and only Democrat ever to give birth while in office,” she says. Women representatives prior to her had been mothers while in office, but…
Service Worker: Motivational speaker John Stahl-Wert helps individuals achieve satisfaction through service
It’s entirely informal, a man standing in front of 40-odd people in a large, open, high-ceiling room in an industrial park. Jacket, no tie, he is easy, affable, commonsensical. He speaks about normal failures — ego, fear, complacency — things that cripple leaders and organizations. “We believe that people are made to be given work…
Savage Love
While I typically encourage people to keep their questions brief, it is possible to be too brief, NH. But I’ve gotten so many questions from wannabe cuckolds with wife issues over the years that I’m going to hazard a series of guesses and take a shot at advising you … I’m guessing you’re a straight…
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
On a short list of sequels that aren’t necessary is The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, John Madden’s follow-up to 2011’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. At least the title doesn’t lie: This is second best of the two. Our British ex-pats have settled snugly into lively retirement in Jaipur, India, rambling about the still…
Short List: March 5 – 8
FREE EVENT: Fri., March 6 — Art “I’ve grown up hunting and living off the land. There’s so much going on now about knowing where your food is coming from. I think the thing with hunters is that we know exactly where our food comes from,” Rebecca Lessner says about her upcoming photography exhibit at…
Ghosts at Off the Wall
GHOSTS continues through March 14 Off the Wall Theater 25 W. Main St. Carnegie $5-35 724-873-3576 or inside offthewall.com Like many Ibsen plays, Ghosts was controversial when it was first produced. After its London premiere, in 1891, The Daily Telegraph called it “an open drain: a loathsome sore unbandaged; a dirty act done publicly.” Ghosts brings…
Stuff We Like
Kennywood in Winter. Seen from a passing bus, it’s all bare and gray and slushy, with a promise of fun that for the melancholy among us is much better than real fun could ever be. Penn Avenue Fish’s Late Hours. The Strip District location has extended its hours until 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, with…
Focus
“You get them to focus, and you take whatever you want.” Such is the art of the steal that veteran con man Nicky (Will Smith) explains to junior con artist Jess (Margot Robbie), whom he’s begun tutoring. Will they fall in love over pilfered watches? Likely. Will trust always be an issue? For sure. Do…
One Thirty One East
One Thirty One East 131 E. Main St. Carnegie 412-276-1205 Hours: Tue.-Fri. lunch 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., dinner 5-10 p.m.; Sat. dinner only 5-10 p.m. Prices: Starters, flatbreads, soups, salads $5-17; entrees $17-33 Liquor: Full bar While “hole in the wall” has its appeal, elevating the food at humble establishments above all other concerns, restaurateurs and…
The Lazarus Effect
Working in one of those horror-movie labs where the lights are mostly kept turned off, a small research team discovers a serum that will re-animate the dead. It works on a dog (with some admittedly worrisome results), so when one of the team is killed in a lab accident, an on-site re-boot seems logical. David…
Two popular breweries open new neighborhood outposts
Full Pint Wild Side Pub 5310 Butler St. Lawrenceville 610-955-1026 Voodoo Homestead 205 E. Ninth Ave. Homestead 412-368-8973 or voodoobrewery.com There are two breweries within walking distance of my house, and a half-dozen more just a short drive away. With great beer so accessible, it’s easy to forget the more far-flung options. Recent taproom openings,…
These Final Hours
So, the world’s about to end in a fiery cataclysm in a few hours — what are you going to do? That’s the set-up in writer-director Zak Hilditch’s new drama, set in Perth, Australia. For feckless James (Nathan Phillips), the plan is to obliterate himself at a massive sex-and-drugs party, but navigating the lawless streets…
Dinner Lab, a subscription-based, pop-up restaurant venture, makes its Pittsburgh debut
At a time when celebrity chefs are all the rage, Dinner Lab wants to introduce you to the other folks in the kitchen. “We’re bringing in sous chefs and line cooks, the people in the kitchen whose job it is to execute someone else’s vision of what cuisine should be,” says Zach Kupperman, the co-founder…
Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead
Not seeing enough zombies? Can’t wait for this summer’s Mad Max reboot? This new Australian horror comedy from Kiah Roache-Turner should hold you, as a small band of beer-drinkers armors up to face undead flesh-eaters in the bush. Head shots galore, leavened by some throwaway gags. The faced-paced film does stumble in places — there’s…
The Boy Friend at Point Park Conservatory
THE BOY FRIEND continues March 12-15 Pittsburgh Playhouse 222 Craft Ave. Oakland $18-20 412-392-8000 or pittsburgh playhouse.com While I certainly enjoyed Point Park’s Conservatory Theatre production of Sandy Wilson’s The Boy Friend, and the excessively talented cast, I’d suggest a warning on the poster: “For Musical-Comedy Fans Only.” The work was written in 1954 as…
Film Kitchen
The monthly series features short work by three local or independent artists. A highlight is Elias Kurlfink’s “The Gospel of Ernie,” a lively, inventive farce about the fate of a stridently atheist TV talk-show host after God proves his own existence; the skilled cast features top local stage actor Tony Bingham as Ernie. Also, Ohio-based…
The last piece of August Wilson’s playwrighting legacy comes home
HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED March 5-April 5 Pittsburgh Public Theater 621 Penn Ave. Downtown $15-62 412-316-1600 or www.ppt.org The late August Wilson’s legacy is secure. But there’s one last piece of it that the towering playwright’s hometown has yet to experience. How I Learned What I Learned is the one-man show Wilson himself…
Outside of the box: Multiple influences merge to create Badboxes
BADBOXES with CRUISR, THE VELCRO SHOES 9 p.m. Tue., March 10 Brillbox 4104 Penn Ave. Bloomfield $8 421-621-4900 or brillobox.net Some of Harrison Wargo’s musical influences are obvious. “I found Daft Punk’s Discovery and it sounded so magical and different,” recalls Wargo, who will bring his project, Badboxes, to the Brillobox stage March 10. “They…
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre offers three masterworks by three choreographic giants
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre presents PBT PREMIERES 8 p.m. Fri., March 6; 8 p.m. Sat., March 7; and 2 p.m. Sun., March 8 Benedum Center 719 Liberty Ave. Downtown $27-107 412-456-6666 or pbt.org If Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s 45th-anniversary season were wine, it would be a vintage year: Every production is a most desirable bottle, none more…
Enabler’s Jeff Lohrber uses a revolving-door lineup to his advantage
ENABLER with BLACK MASK, WROUGHT IRON, METH QUARRY, CRINGE 7 p.m. Sat., March 7 The Mr. Roboto Project 5106 Penn Ave. Bloomfield 412-345-1059 or theroboto project.org When it comes to his music, Enabler’s Jeff Lohrber does pretty much whatever he wants. That’s one of the perks of being the band’s only consistent member. Lohrber started…
BoxHeart scours the globe for its Art Inter/National
14th ANNUAL ART INTER/NATIONAL continues through March 13 BoxHeart Expressions 4523 Liberty Ave. Bloomfield 412-687-8858 or boxheart gallery.com For the 14th time, BoxHeart Expressions has collected works from artists across the globe for its annual group show the Art Inter/National Exhibition. Through the years, this show by the small but mighty gallery has established a…
Point Park’s new record label signs its first artist, singer-songwriter Hannah Jenkins
Hannah Jenkins didn’t even tell her parents that she was trying to secure a recording contract. Keeping it between her roommates and older sister, Jenkins quietly submitted three of her original songs for consideration to Pioneer Records, a brand-new record label run by of Point Park’s Sports, Arts and Entertainment Management (SAEM) program. Once Jenkins…
Boeing Boeing at CLO Cabaret
BOEING BOEING continues through April 26. The Cabaret at Theater Square 655 Penn Ave. Downtown $34.75-39.75 412-325-6766 or clocabaret.com Seven years ago, there was a rapturously reviewed Broadway revival of a ’60s French sex farce called Boeing Boeing, written by Marc Camoletti, in a translation by Beverley Cross and Francis Evans. It’s about Bernard, a…
Critic’s Picks, March 5-11
[HIP HOP] + FRI., MARCH 6 Perhaps inspired by former producer El-P’s wildly successful Run the Jewels, Cannibal Ox is coming back to an awfully welcoming environment for underground rap duos. Its first album in 14 years, Blade of the Ronin, had been in limbo for a few years before its release this week. Following…
Leviathan
Leviathan Directed by: Andrey Zvyagintsev Starring: Aleksey Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova, Roman Madyanov, Vladimir Vdovichenkov In Russian, with subtitles. Starts Fri., March 6. Harris. In its simplest reading, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s drama Leviathan presents a contemporary version of an age-old tale: An everyman fights against the corruption of the prevailing institutions, and loses badly. Leviathan was Russia’s…
New Releases
The Silver Thread Bare Wire and Water (Psychodaisy) thesilverthread.bandcamp.com Your interest in Bare Wire and Water in particular and this local three-piece in general may be determined by your feelings — musically, not personally — about Thurston Moore. This isn’t a Sonic Youth rip-off, despite the “Dirty Boots” vibes of the EP’s opening track “Everything…
In Pittsburgh, charter-school approval seems next to impossible, and possible changes in Harrisburg could make it even tougher
At the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ public hearing on Feb. 23, Homewood native Arnold Perry called on the school board to approve a charter school he believes will have a positive impact on children and families throughout the city. Perry was among four who attended the meeting to speak in support of the K-8 Robert L.…
Lynn Cullen Live 3/4/15
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Netanyahu’s speech was well spoken and likely damaging. Clean bill for Homeland Security passes. Danford rips into Republicans at Missouri gubernatorial candidate’s funeral. SoCal raid of birth tourism apartments. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps…
Director, Actor talk about August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned – CP TV
Video by Ashley Murray
