Dumped
Good-for-you trash
Pennsylvania a battleground … or not
Much as I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, including my own, I’m starting to wonder if the world cares about Pennsylvania’s presidential primary contest after all. Earlier today, Barack Obama campaign manager David Plouffe did a conference call with reporters. As you might expect, part of it was a victory lap after Obama’s big win…
Hillary Clinton’s Hometown Advantage
Got an interesting e-mail from the Clinton campaign yesterday, one which probably will set the tone for much of the campaign rhetoric we’ll be hearing for the next month. “For Hillary Clinton, Pennsylvania is as much a homecoming as a stop on the presidential campaign trail,” the statement explains. “Hillary has deep family roots…
Girls talk — and shred — when The Donnas come to town
The Donnas drew a decent crowd to Mr. Small’s Theatre on Sunday night, putting on a high-powered show despite the lousy weather, and despite lead vocalist Brett Anderson being under it. Newly independent after parting ways with Atlantic Records (who released Gold Medal and Spend the Night) the Donnas were promoting their new self-released album,…
Survivor: Micronesia
Survivor: Survival of the weak
Dowd: LED sign bound for court
City Councilor Patrick Dowd says that a much-contested electronic sign slated for Grant Street should — and will — be resolved in court. He also left open the possibility that he himself would be the person to file the lawsuit. (March 11 UPDATE: You read it here first — This morning Dowd did file a…
Obama Strikes Back
Remarkably, and despite some heartfelt appeals from Team Clinton earlier this week, Barack Obama’s campaign did NOT forswear any further attacks during a conference call with reporters this afternoon. Instead, campaign manager David Plouffe reiterated demands that Clinton furnish her prior year tax information immediately. Clinton, he charges was “one of the most secretive politicians”…
Call for Cynics
Within the next few days, we’ll be experimenting with a new video player on the site. I thought I’d use this opportunity to revisit a project I participated in a few months back, called “The Third Round.” For those unfamiliar with the format — i.e. for those who had better things to do than watch…
Rollins rolls through the Rex
Interviewing Henry Rollins for an online magazine was one of the first paid writing gigs I ever had. I was living in northern California at the time, and Rollins’ publicist got me an e-mail interview with Hank, kind of like the one Scott Mervis did for the Post-Gazette this past week, and hooked me up…
This University is a Joke
Several of Pittsburgh’s rising comedic talents prepare to take on the world … armed with a Duquesne education
Percussion duo Loop 2.4.3 performs at Lawrenceville’s Your Inner Vagabond
“It’s the independence of those parts that gives the feeling of more than two guys playing.”
Canadians The Stills hit Diesel, as they prep for a new release
“If we survive as a species, we’re going to have to leave the planet at some point.”
Akron/Family to open the Warhol’s astral portals
An album that could bring beardos and squares together like few have since John Lennon sang “Jai Guru Deva Om.”
“Los valientes” the Black Lips perform at Mr. Small’s
“Pop is simple, you know?”
The Big Bang
The Big Bang is the equivalent of two 12-year-old boys telling dirty jokes on the jungle gym — the same jokes we’ve all heard, the same punch lines we’re all expecting.
Art: Panel gives Bodies a once over
In light of a 20/20 investigation into where the bodies in the famed Bodies exhibit came from, local critics say shows should be banned regardless of whether the subjects were political prisoners or not.
Law: Court upholds city’s ‘bubble zones’ around abortion clinics
A local protester thought the city’s bubble zones around abortion clinics was infringing on her free speech. A federal judge recently told her she was wrong.
History: Head Trip
After three years in a restorative bath, Carnegie’s T. Rex shines in his new home.
GLBT Rights: State legislature again trying to ban gay marriage
Some state legislators are again trying to pass a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, despite a losing effort in 2006
Education: Board of Education members concerned with violence at CEP
In light of a City Paper story detailing excessive violence at the city’s privatized school for at-risk students, some board members are questioning whether the district should continue the arrangement.
Blight’s Out
The house, like many in Garfield, is in bad shape. The paint is chipped. Bricks on the front porch are buckling under pressure. A web of dried vines climbs the left wall and sprawls across the roof. The railings are rusted, some of the windows punched out. The innards have been rummaged by anonymous vandals…
Patron Mexican Grill
The menu is as busy as the dining room at this North Hills Mexican restaurant.
This Just In: March 5 – 12
Highlights from the local TV news: KDKA teaches how to handle snow, fish fries, and cholesterol levels.
A Conversation with Allegra Elson
Allegra Elson’s first-generation Italian-American grandmother asked her to learn Italian. Grad school made her learn Spanish. Now the Squirrel Hill native teaches English as a second language to students at the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council in East Liberty. Elson was, in fact, recently recognized as one of the state’s Outstanding Teachers of the Year by…
In Fox Chapel, a couple restores one of the few finished constructions of a half-forgotten but influential local architect.
“It was just this rectangle in a meadow,” Kasabach recalls enthusiastically.
Woman on the Beach
Film director Kim (Seung-woo Kim) leaves Seoul for the seaside, hoping that the quiet of the off-season will cure his writer’s block. But with his producer buddy Chang-wook (Kim Tae-woo) and Chang-wook’s sort-of girlfriend Munsook (Hyun-jung Go) in tow, the sojourn becomes a mess of shifting alliances and ultimately, a useful self-examination. The handsome, self-absorbed…
Ben Hernstrom offers an imagined (but not hoped-for) future at Film Kitchen.
Filmmaker Ben Hernstrom has a long-term project: “The fictionalization of the future,” he calls it, or “looking back on a future that won’t happen, hopefully.” Employing found footage and still images, and with inspiration from experimental icon Chris Marker, Hernstrom has created the intriguing first and last chapters of a series he envisions taking years…
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Set in England on the eve of World War II, this parlor comedy tells of a chance encounter that catapults the frowsy middle-aged Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) into the glamorous but chaotic life of Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), an American entertainer in need of a social secretary. As much as Delysia needs a Mary Poppins…
The Other Boleyn Girl
Director Justin Chadwick’s fast-paced, over-plotted, neo-chick-flick version of a scandalous bit of British history – King Henry VIII and his women. The meaty Eric Bana is portrays Henry, with Natalie Portman as his second wife Anne, and Scarlett Johansson as her shy sister Mary, who also interests the king. Somewhere deep inside the sinewy silk…
Rostrum Records beefs up its roster
For S. Money’s first release on Rostrum, the label is planning a DVD/mixtape combo, due this spring.
Cupcake Hero
Local food blog helps build a better cupcake.
No Class
OK, now that there are allegations of misconduct around 34-year-old teacher’s aide Abbiejane Swogger, I wanna know: How come there seems to be such a rash of cases in which women teachers are accused of having sex with adolescent students? And yes, because I am a walking cliché, I must repeat the oft-asked query: Why…
Savage Love
Open marriages — do they ever work? After 16 years and one kid, my husband and I are considering an open marriage. Over a year ago, I met another man who I was attracted to and wanted to fuck. I had met men like this throughout our marriage, but never did anything because I was…
Cope-ing Skills
“Mr. Potter, this is Myron Cope,” the Voice on my phone was saying. The Voice sounded like somebody running pulverized glass and gravel through a blender. And not in a good way. Not in the way Cope had sounded for the 30-odd years I’d listened to him broadcasting Steelers games. This was the fall of…
Michael Rogers and Richard Hirsch summon a haunting Recollection at the Pittsburgh Glass Center.
Rogers’ use of found objects and glass castings of pieces from his own toy collection imparts to his work a fascinating, if slightly sinister, Victorian flavor.
Dialing into the Clinton campaign
Sat in on a campaign conference call this morning, hosted by senior campaign advisor Ann Lewis and communications director Howard Wolfson. It was pretty much what you’d expect these things to be like. The festivities began with Lewis blasting away at Obama’s attacks on Clinton … while faulting him for not addressing Clinton’s attacks on…
