Economic Advice
Financial and moral advice from the sidewalk
Catching up, pt. 1: Gene the Werewolf signs to Frontiers
Gene the Werewolf signs with a big European label
Local wrestler given humanitarian award
Local pro wrestler receives award for charitable works
Top Political Journalist Speaks Here
Pittsburgh native, HuffPo editorial director lectures at Pitt
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Oct. 16
Local governments get the first revenues from a fee on Marcellus gas-drilling firms: Just over $200 million is being spread around the state among all the counties and some 1,500 local governments. And hey, let’s not forget that other investment gas-drilling firms are making in Pennsylvania government: four-digit campaign contributions, even for minor races at…
Lynn Cullen Live 10/16/12
Video Archive Guest: David DeAngelo, 2 Political Junkies blogger; PA is back to swing state status; Casey vs. Smith for senate; Obama knows too much; tonight’s debate: Obama needs to act like he wants his job; poll results; Paul Ryan & wife pretend to do dishes at a soup kitchen; American Family Association is a…
VIA Festival Review
Review of this year’s VIA Festival.
JFK Play Launches New Reading Series
Pittsburgh Public reading series begins with JFK play
Series Begins Tonight with JFK Play
Local playwright’s take on Kennedy assassination begins new series
Green Party candidate event postponed
Events scheduled today and Tuesday with Cheri Honkala, Green Party vice-presidential nominee, have been rescheduled. The forum, “From Movement Politics to Electoral Politics and Back: Anti-Poverty Organizer Cheri Honkala Reflects on her Green Party Vice-Presidential Candidacy” will now be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Room 105 of the University of Pittsburgh’s David Lawrence Hall, 3942…
Tonight: The Lighthouse and The Whaler @ Shadow Lounge
Catch The Lighthouse and The Whaler at the Shadow Lounge on Monday, Oct. 15!
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Oct. 15
Story of the day: As you’ve probably heard, Arlen Specter has died after a protracted battle with cancer. And as the Associated Press points out, his death comes as the political principles he espoused — a sometimes maddening, sometimes inspiring failure to toe the party line — are themselves on life support. We may not…
Lynn Cullen Live 10/15/12
Video Archive Guest: Rev. Richard Freeman, President of PA Interfaith Impact Network; PIIN is the largest diverse grassroots social action organization; pro-active in tackling issues; Fire of Faith event THIS Thursday: Rekindling Democracy & community; event topics: Alcosan, transportation, education; faith & politics; Obit: Arlen Specter, former PA senator; PG’s awful headline to his obit;…
AG Candidates: I’M more popular!
Campaigns for both candidates running for State Attorney General reported surges in support today. First up, Democrat Kathleen Kane’s campaign sent out a press release citing an Inquirer Pennsylvania Poll that says she’s up over Republican Dave Freed by 12 points. In the release, Kane praised the results as being significant because it’s the latest…
Puppet Shows on Demand Downtown
Downtown, a three-minute puppet show just for you
Rally location for food trucks announced
The location for Sunday’s rally in support of food trucks is the East Liberty parking lot of Big Brothers, Big Sisters at 5989 Penn Circle South. It will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. If you’re just tuning in, the rally is being organized as part of an effort to change the mobile vending…
New ‘iPod Noir” Event Hits Downtown
Interactive theater piece is fun and thought-provoking
Critz, Rothfus debate available online
The Oct. 10 debate between Democrat Mark Critz and Republican Keith Rothfus is available online.
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Oct. 12
Story of the day: Joe Biden brings it in last night’s vice-presidential debate. The conventional wisdom is that VP debates never change anyone’s mind. But what Democrats needed, after President Obama’s disastrous performance last week, was some assurance that their standard bearers were actually going to put up some kind of fight. Biden’s toughest sledding…
Lynn Cullen Live 10/12/12
Video Archive Last night’s VP debate; nothing like the last pres. debate; did Biden grin too much?; Biden won the debate, showed Ryan up on about every topic; Ryan lost the debate before he even spoke; why did Biden & Ryan get to sit for their debate?; Steelers players getting hurt one by one this…
Suspicious Package at Future Tenant
Participatory theater Downtown gives a real taste of showbiz
Area-native opera star returns with memoir
Butler-born opera notable reads from new memoir
Here we go: Hundreds of 20-somethings arrive next week
The One Young World Summit will attract about 1,500 20-somethings to the city Oct. 18-22.
Obama Volunteers Have Different Reasons for Backing the President
Two Obama campaign volunteers share their reasons for getting involved in the campaign.
Atlas Shrugs Some More
The Continuing Adventures of Modern Industrialists: Part 2 of the Atlas Shrugged movie opens Fri., Oct. 12.
Heads Up: Headlines for Oct. 11
Story of the day: Is Pittsburgh (halfway) out of the woods? The Act 47 team, one of the two bodies overseeing city finances — and the one that no one ever talks much about — says the city is ready to emerge from its state-imposed “distressed” status. This would be good news for Mayor Luke…
Lynn Cullen Live 10/11/12
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski; Modern Family; Nashville; tonight’s debate; zingers & good rhetoric; archaeologists have discovered the exact place Caesar was stabbed; more on the praying mantis; cockroaches, birds, & dinosaurs; motivational speakers are full of shit; how to take a better nap; Chinese soft shell turtles urinate through their mouth; Lance Armstrong forces…
Room for You at This Office Space
Drop those TPS reports and catch Office Space this Saturday, for free.
Green Party candidate to speak at Pitt
Candidate for vice president to hold forum
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Oct. 10
Are tattoo parlors marked for regulation? Is there actually someone out there who thinks Tom Corbett is doing a good job? And is there really a politician who thinks he can score points by going after Mario Lemieux?
The Rivals
THE RIVALS continues through Oct. 13. Philip Chosky Theater Carnegie Mellon University Oakland. $10-29. 412-268-2407 or drama.cmu.edu A world-class academic program like the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama is one of the few places with the wherewithal to mount a mostly authentic production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 comedy, The Rivals. While combining the…
Bull in the China Shop
Fewer than two dozen Pittsburghers showed up at SouthSide Works for last Saturday night’s screening of Death by China, a button-pushing documentary about the rising Asian power. But maybe that’s no surprise. The film has received little publicity here, and besides, we’ve already lived through its nightmare scenario: the disappearance of domestic manufacturing, accompanied by…
Her Hamlet
HER HAMLET continues through Oct. 13. Henry Heymann Theater Stephen Foster Memorial Forbes Avenue at Bigelow, Oakland. $12-25. 412-624-7529 or play.pitt.edu. There is a genre of theater you might call the Avant-Garde Think Piece. Instead of a plot, the show “analyzes” a “text” for “postmodern” “themes.” If it could, the performance would be riddled with…
Savage Love
I recently discovered that my boyfriend of seven months and I have opposing viewpoints on the “life begins at conception” issue. He’s not a crazy zealot, but he is strongly against abortion. And while he won’t go so far as to say abortion should be banned, he does believe that a fetus — from the…
We review Pittsburgh’s top three haunted houses.
Zombies, demons and clowns — oh my! Yep, it’s that time of year. A time when fallen leaves crunch, pumpkin ales are on tap and our most disturbing nightmares become reality. For some, dark hallways where monsters quietly wait in the shadows are just too frightening; others yearn for them. I spent the past two…
Pin Head the Fireman
I was sitting with Pin Head Drinking a beer. He just retired from the fire department After twenty-five years. I asked him, “Did you ever put out a fire?” He said, “No, but I started a few.” I said, “Every man to his own poison.” He said, “Sometimes I miss the action.” I said, “Well,…
The Pittsburgh International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Time to get ready for the 27th annual Pittsburgh International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, beginning Fri., Oct. 12, and running through Oct. 21. The festival offers 17 feature-length films, three programs of shorts, and opening- and closing-night parties. The opening-night film, Cloudburst (7:30 p.m.), is a dramedy starring Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker as…
Short List: October 10 – 16
Transgender writer, director, producer and activist Andrea James spent 10 years working as an advertising copywriter. She produced content for Super Bowl commercials and other major events before founding her own production company to promote better media representation of trans people. The prolific Los Angeles-based activist speaks tonight at Chatham University in celebration of LGBT…
Argo
After all these years, Ben Affleck is still a listless actor. But he’s a terrific director, and in Argo, he’s done it again, albeit with less depth and substance than in his first two films. It’s a true-enough story about something that really happened: Posing as a Canadian filmmaker, a CIA agent (Affleck) got six…
Kahila’s Taste
Kahila’s Taste 305 N. Craig St. Oakland. 412-377-7951 Hours: Tue.-Thu. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Prices: Entrees $8-15; sides $1-5 Liquor: BYOB The doorway which connects one of Pittsburgh’s most venerable dark-and-smoky bars, Chief’s on North Craig Street, to a bright little restaurant space next door is almost Narnia-like in its revelation of…
Bill W.
Kevin Hanlon and Dan Carracino’s intimate but handsomely produced bio-doc profiles Bill Wilson, who co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous in the mid-1930s. (In keeping with the program’s commitment to discretion, Wilson was known by the more familiar name “Bill W.”) In an era when alcoholism was poorly understood and often treated (if at all) as a psychiatric…
Frankenweenie
Director Tim Burton returns to his roots with this ooky-spooky stop-motion comedy. (The feature is stretched out and adapted from a short film Burton made as a student.) Fans of old-school Burton will cheer for his return to animated puppetry; a fascination with things that are dead (or not-quite-dead-yet); a gushing homage for classic horror…
Searching for Sugar Man
Malik Bendjelloul’s documentary follows two South African men — a jeweler-turned-record-store-owner and a music writer — as they search for the story behind Rodriguez, a little-known American singer and songwriter whose 1970 album Cold Fact became a classic in South Africa despite barely selling in the United States. On the way to finding the truth…
V/H/S
If you’re not weary of the found-footage horror genre, you could press “play” on this film, an anthology of five shorter films in which various acts of horror, violence, supernatural weirdness and nakedness are caught on film. The five films, directed respectively by David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg and Radio Silence, are…
Pop-up restaurant promises one-of-a-kind meals and experiences
While touring as a drummer in the Southern sludge-metal band Kylesa, Brandon Baltzley says Pittsburgh left an impression — particularly one night spent drinking 40s in Allegheny Cemetery. “We were always so fucking shit-faced while we were here,” he says. “We had a lot of fun.” Now a nomadic chef with a pop-up restaurant, Crux,…
Lock and Key Collective celebrates five years of punk records
LOCK AND KEY COLLECTIVE FIFTH BIRTHDAY SHOWS. 7 p.m. Thu., Oct. 11. $7. Continues 7 p.m. Fri., Oct. 12 ($5) and 4 p.m. Sat., Oct. 13 (free). The Murderroom 2315 Wharton St. South Side. facebook.com/lockandkeyco In the Commonwealth Press warehouse on the South Side, there are show posters, made in-house, hanging on the wall. For…
Harvard and Highland, Kevin Sousa’s latest venture, puts the focus on craft cocktails
Kevin Sousa’s patrons have long enjoyed creative, and carefully constructed, drinks: the rotating mix of brilliant cocktails at Salt of the Earth; jelly jars and Rock & Rye at Union Pig and Chicken; agua frescas at Station Street Hot Dogs. But at those joints, the food claims center stage. Not so at the just-opened Harvard…
Torche lights a flame under straightforward rock ‘n’ roll
TORCHE and KVELERTAK open for CONVERGE. 7 p.m. Sun., Oct. 14. Altar Bar 1620 Penn Ave. Strip District. $15-17. 412-206-9719 or thealtarbar.com When Torche came to Pittsburgh for the first time, in 2005, it was for the most part a sludgy stoner-metal band. Comprising ex-members of bands like the ’90s Florida doom band Floor, the…
Om Nom Bake Studio makes its mark with unique baked goods
There’s an art to baking a great cookie, and an art to naming one. Om Nom Bake Studio succeeds with both. The project of husband-and-wife team Matt and Karla Schroeder, of Lawrenceville, Om Nom specializes in cookies, brownies, bars and pies. Om Nom sells its goodies at the Pittsburgh Public Market, Friday through Sunday; online;…
Pittsburgh Camerata serves up choral LOLs in Apollo Unbound
PITTSBURGH CAMERATA PRESENTS APOLLO UNBOUND. 8 p.m. Sat., Oct. 13. St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church 5801 Hampton St. Highland Park. $5-15. Continues Oct. 19-20, various locations. 412-421-5884 or pittsburghcamerata.org As artistic director of the Pittsburgh Camerata — a small choral ensemble specializing in Renaissance, baroque and 20th-century works — Rebecca Rollett likes to present at least…
Lynn Cullen Live 10/10/12
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; Tea Partiers plannning to show up @ polls in not-so-great neighborhoods on Election Day; the praying mantises & all their glory; debates: people prefer a good liar to a bad performer; too few liberal hacks out there; Romney will tell you whatever you want to hear; more on Felix Baumgartner…
CD Reviews
Coronado Coronado (Self-released) A respectable first release from these relative newcomers: A self-professed Harry Nilsson fandom is evident, but there are also nods to sprawling folk-rock a la The Band (or maybe that’s just the organ talking) and opiate-influenced shoegaze. Not every song is a keeper, but on the whole this is the kind of…
Vanessa German’s Emerging Artist of the Year show is a qualified success.
EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR: VANESSA GERMAN continues through Oct. 28. Pittsburgh Center for the Arts 6300 Fifth Ave. Shadyside. 412-361-0873 or pittsburgharts.org In 1972 Betye Saar made “The Liberation of Aunt Jemima,” a signature piece that used a derogatory image as a symbol of empowerment. In a shadow box, Saar presented mammy as a…
Critics’ Picks: October 10 -16
[METALCORE] + THU., OCT. 11 Hatebreed couldn’t have picked a more fitting name for its 10 Years of Perseverance tour. Although the band’s been making music since 1994, it’s been — you guessed it — 10 years since its major-label debut, Perseverance, hit shelves. Since then, the five-piece has released five studio albums (with another…
Readings by poet Sam Hazo and Brazilian poet Salgado Maranhão, plus a read-a-thon at Eljay’s.
Effectively translating poetry can be as much an achievement as writing it. Touring with leading Afro-Brazilian poet Salgado Maranhão is translator Alexis Levitin, as they present Maranhão’s first collection in English. Blood of the Sun is “a perfect English rendering of Salgado Maranhão’s deft expression,” according to Gregory Rabassa, translator of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred…
Sowing the Seeds: Can Obama’s grassroots campaign deliver like it did in ’08?
Joseph Lewis was looking mighty happy for a guy who was about to spend the next three or four hours walking around in the rain. The Penn Hills neighborhood team leader for the Obama for America campaign was in East Liberty on Oct. 6 canvassing neighborhoods, talking to potential voters and making sure they were…
Born Yesterday
BORN YESTERDAY continues through Oct. 28. Pittsburgh Public Theate 621 Penn Ave. Downtown. $15.75-55. 412-316-1600 or ppt.org Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Or is that too obvious an opening for a review of the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of Born Yesterday? Written in 1946 by Garson Kanin in the rush of idealism…
Out of the Comfort Zone: A wary response for proposed gas-drilling rules
When Patrick Dowd offered new legislation to govern natural-gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale at a Sept. 20 press conference, he stood alone. There were no drilling-company representatives behind him, no environmentalists anywhere. And that, if nothing else, suggests how fractious the debate over gas “fracking” has become. City officials, Dowd told reporters, “have an…
