Kathleen Mulcahy and Ron Desmett
If there is such a thing as royalty on Pittsburgh’s art-glass scene, it must include Mulcahy and Desmett. The pair, who are married and live in Oakdale, are artists of long standing in these parts. Mulcahy is a former Pittsburgh Center for the Arts artist of the year who’s had solo exhibitions in galleries around…
Poet Denise Duhamel
Duhamel, nationally known crafter of poems that are playful, engaging and thought-provoking, visits Pittsburgh Friday for one of her occasional readings here. Duhamel, who teaches at Florida International University, is published on University of Pittsburgh Press. The most recent of her numerous chapbooks and collections is 2009’s Ka-Ching!. Much, but not all of the book,…
MP3 Monday: Ali Spagnola (plus, preliminary schedule for Stage AE)
Hi folks! I spent a nice week not being at work last week, and now I’m back at work, where I’m going to spend a nice week being at work. What does this mean for you? Not much, besides uninterrupted FFW>> offerings — like today’s MP3 Monday, courtesy local dancepop lady Ali Spagnola! You may…
Man Who Loved Books Author Allison Bartlett
Have you ever wanted something so badly you wished you could just take it? Did you actually steal it, and then justify it to yourself? Allison Hoover Bartlett’s The Man Who Loved Books Too Much (Riverhead) explores the kleptomaniac lurking inside us all through John Gilkey. He’s the Saks Fifth Avenue associate who used customers’…
The Year in Fear
As you spent the past year going to school or work, watching the Pirates lose and making love to your significant other, you probably gave little thought to the dangers that beset us from all sides. Lucky for you, the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response was not so complacent. For 10 months, the Philly-based…
Public Enemy No. 1?
Police, protesters alike baffled by scrutiny of Philly-area activists
Work Ethics
Did the FBI track activists just to look busy? Activists aren’t buying it.
Intelligence Failure
Is Homeland Security the Thought Police — or the Keystone Kops? Or some of each?
Short List: Week of October 7 – 14
Fri., Oct. 8 — Rock During the dark days of the ’90s ska revival, there were a few points of light, one being Hellcat/Moon Ska stalwarts The Slackers. Frontman and general punk/ska utility player Vic Ruggiero has produced and played on records by bands including Rancid and started a solo career while maintaining the dignity…
South of the Border
Director Oliver Stone visits the presidents of Latin America’s left-leaning regimes and takes his camera. His film — more a promotional round-up than a documentary — is like having dinner with a friend who can’t stop talking about what he’s really interested in, but who fails to explain it properly or make it interesting. Viewers…
Secretariat
The titular star is the famous race horse who … well, if you don’t know who Secretariat was, I’ll leave you to discover it in Randall Wallace’s sun-dappled story, set in the early 1970s. The horse matters, but the real star is its owner, Penny Chenery (Diane Lane). (For once, the star of a Disney…
Kisses
Two 11-years-old — Kylie (Kelly O’Neill) and Dylan (Shane Curry), each sporting the name of a pop star — run away from their abusive families in a bleak Dublin suburb to spend the night in the city. Lance Daly’s picaresque wee road movie (being kids, they only journey in from the ‘burbs, but it may…
Jack Goes Boating
Philip Seymour Hoffman makes his directorial debut adapting Bob Glaudini’s play for the big screen. Hoffman reprises his stage role as Jack, a sad sack of a limo driver whose buddy Clyde (John Ortiz) sets him up with his wife’s colleague. Besides their job, the two women have little in common: Clyde’s wife, Lucy (Daphne…
It’s Kind of a Funny Story
Even though it’s set in a psych ward, this third feature from Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck is actually their most light-hearted. (Half-Nelson was about a teacher on crack, and Sugar tracked the failure of a minor-league ball player.) Keir Gilchrist plays Craig, a depressed, anxious 16-year-old who gets checked into the mental hospital for…
Catfish
Social networking is at the heart of Catfish, a self-described “reality thriller” from New York City-based filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost. The two decide to film Schulman’s brother, Nev, after the photographer strikes up an Internet acquaintance with Abby, an 8-year-old Michigan girl. Soon, Nev is Facebooking Abby’s mom, siter and various friends and…
The Social Network
David Fincher’s deliciously entertaining account of how Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook is a snappy re-write of the age-old story about how the quest for power/fame/fortune leaves a trail of personal wreckage. Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires serves as source material, but the lively, bantering script by Aaron Sorkin (West Wing) suggests plenty of…
The Mintt
Location: 3033 Banksville Road, Banksville. 412-306-1831 Hours: Tue.-Fri. lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., dinner 5-10 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. lunch noon-3 p.m., dinner 5-10 p.m. Prices: $5-15 Fare: Regional Indian and Indo-Chinese Atmosphere: Low-lit but casual Liquor: BYOB When a good thing gets off the ground, sometimes all it takes is a gust of positive feedback to…
With Pittsburgh settings (and a little time-travel), a local author makes her name in romance novels.
Romance novels are “the ultimate story of female empowerment.”
An acclaimed New York dance company’s work, developed in Pittsburgh, returns to premiere.
Bell describes Revue‘s feel as circus-like, with an international cast of six dancers from France, Korea, Canada and the U.S. adopting a multitude of bizarre personas.
He Who Gets Slapped
Arya Shahi looks the part of the beaten-down hero, yet sounds like a magical story-teller, and agilely carries the burdens of his mystery man.
‘night Mother
Five minutes into ‘night Mother and you’re just itching to shoot Jessie yourself.
This Just In: October 7 – 14
Highlights from the local TV news: Tube-Steak Boogie
Local emcee Stillborn Identity has roots in hardcore
“Indie and punk shows and anything DIY work better for me, even if I’m the only rapper on the bill.”
Pittsburgh’s Hero Destroyed branches out on sophomore Relapse release, Throes
An intense update to the sound we’ve come to expect from these gentlemen: staggering fucking complexity balanced by unrestrained rage.
Mariage Blanc overcomes a blizzard, mechanical malfunction — and its own finicky tastes
With help from friends, the band turned a rather forbidding, uninsulated room into something that looks passable and sounds impeccable.
New releases from Callán and Devilish Merry offer twists on traditional tones
Devilish Merry resides in a musical zone where Celtic tradition, American country and other related strains of music join together.
Local hardcore band Girlfight releases the ultra-compressed Infinite Carcass
“Eventually something happens and you’re just another body on the side of the road.”
Domestic Insecurity
Want to escape police-state scrutiny? Become a cop.
Fat Daddy’s
A renovated space selling sandwiches and ice cream is a welcome addition to The Hill.
Portrait, 1984
A poem by Stacey Waite
Savage Love
My husband has a cuckold fetish, which we have indulged through two drunken threesomes with two of his best friends. The first time, he really had to talk me into it. The second time, he steered me in that direction and I took the wheel. I now have had sex alone with Friend Two a…
