On the Record with Bully’s Alicia Bognanno
Following performances at Lollapalooza and Pitchfork Music Festival, Nashville-based indie-rock band Bully is currently on a headlining tour which will stop at Brillobox this Saturday. Singer Alicia Bognanno took some time to chat with us over the phone. Your debut album sounds very ’90s alt-rock. What influences lead to that sound? I wasn’t aiming to make a…
Listen Up! Sept. 23
Every Wednesday, we make a Spotify playlist containing tracks from artists covered in the current music section. Find your new favorite song below!
Concert announcements: Insane Clown Posse, The Royal Concept, Driftwood
Hey, yo, real quick: here are some newly announced SHOWS. Check ’em out below. Insane Clown Posse will hold court at Mr. Small’s Theatre on November 2, along with P.O.D. [editor’s note: !!!??], Stitches, Dope D.O.D. and Young Wicked ($25-30, on sale now). All Them Witches plays Brillobox on December 13 ($10-12, on sale now). Singer/songwriters…
Riverside Performance Beneath Veteran’s Bridge on Friday
Multimedia show is latest in the Drift’s series
Venue update for upcoming Spirit Caravan show
In this week’s print-only EARLY WARNINGS feature, we note the upcoming Spirit Caravan show, happening Wed, Oct. 21. The show was originally booked at the 31st Street Pub, but between the time the blurb was written and now, the 31st Street Pub, somewhat unexpectedly, hosted its last show. So, Spirit Caravan will now be playing…
The Musical of Musicals at Theatre Factory
THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS: THE MUSICAL continues through Oct. 4. The Theatre Factory, 235 Cavitt Ave., Trafford. $13-18. 412-374-9200 or thetheatrefactory.com One of the surprising things we learned about Stephen Sondheim in his two-volume examination of his lyrics (Finishing the Hat and Look, I Made a Hat) is that the guy’s not a fan of…
The Chris Robinson Brotherhood, playing Sunday at Mr. Small’s, focuses on keeping it real
“Authentic” is a word that comes up more than once during a conversation with Neal Casal, guitarist and co-songwriter for the band The Chris Robinson Brotherhood. “There’s a reality to our theme that I think is in short supply in a lot of music in our present time,” he says over the telephone from his home…
Local Activist Speaks This Week on Global Climate Talks
Three free presentations by filmmaker Mark Dixon
Lynn Cullen Live 9/22/15
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Scott Walker drops out of GOP race. Bagel manufacturing killed the bagel. 100 year old man sets track records. Fetterman of Braddock runs for Senate. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio…
Lynn Cullen Live 9/21/15
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. George Will excoriates the Pope. Exec. hikes price of pill by a huge percentage. Hello Barbie presents the problem of synthetic friendship. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Low-budget-cooking author speaks tomorrow
Leanne Brown, author of Good and Cheap, comes to the Mother Earth News Fair
Lynn Cullen Live 9/18/15
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Steve Jobs and how he changed the world. Comedian admits he wasn’t in the Twin Towers during 9/11. GM doesn’t correct manufacturing problem and 173 people die as a result, no jail time. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new…
Second Annual TransPride Pittsburgh Conference comes to Lawrenceville
TransPride Conference to move to a larger facility to accommodate growing numbers.
Lynn Cullen Live 9/17/15
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. GOP debates are a joke and a half. Dating apps for bacon lovers. The Pope visits in a week and operation Jade Helm 15 is complete. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer…
CP Weekend Podcast – Sept. 18 – 20, 2015
This week: Balkan dance parties, bands in homage to bell hooks, and hot, hot peppers.
The Trans-Q Live! performance showcase returns
TRANS-Q LIVE! 8 p.m., Fri., Sept. 18. The Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky St., North Side. $8-10. 412-237-8300 or warhol.org Much like the first edition of Trans-Q Live! at The Andy Warhol Museum, in 2013, this year’s edition at the 100-seat Warhol Theater will retain a pop-cabaret/variety-show feel. Essentially a live version of the Pittsburgh-produced…
Stuff We Like
Pittsburgh Coliseum. While its hardwood floors give away this cavernous Homewood structure’s past life as a roller rink (among other things), it’s now an all-purpose performance and event venue. The lobby wall of fame, with portraits of notable sons and daughters of the neighborhood, is a nice touch. 7310 Frankstown Ave., Homewood Il Pizzaiolio’s Ravioli…
Food Systems: A Night Out
Food Systems: A Night Out Directed by David Bernabo 7 p.m. Wed., Sept. 23 ($12 with reception) and noon, Sun., Sept. 27 ($8), Row House Cinema, Lawrenceville. Also, 7 p.m. Thu., Oct. 1, Wigle Whiskey Barrelhouse, 1055 Spring Garden Ave., North Side (free) After a successful Kickstarter and months of shooting and editing, David Bernabo…
Local Talent
Video by Aaron Warnick Amongst the toy-selling vendors, cosplayers, and weaving lines for autographs and photo ops, Pittsburgh-based artists showcased their work at the nationally touring Wizard World Comic Con that rolled through town this past weekend. “We enjoy doing shows. It’s not like work to us,” said Patrick Block, who’s been a Pittsburgh-based freelance…
Queen of the Earth
Queen of the Earth begins with an ending: Catherine (Elisabeth Moss), shot in tight close-up, her face tear-streaked, is in the final throes of a breakup. The scene shifts and now she is en route to a lake house, along with her best friend, Virginia (Katherine Waterson), to recuperate. But in Alex Ross Perry’s spare…
Sichuan Gourmet
Sichuan Gourmet 1900 Murray Ave., Squirrel Hill. 412-521-1313 Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sun. noon-9 p.m. Prices: $5-20 Liquor: BYOB Unless we lived in China, most of us probably grew up with generic “Chinese” restaurants. That is why the current trend toward regional Chinese cuisines, especially the assertive Szechuan (or Sichuan)…
Grandma
Retired feminist poet and practicing misanthrope Elle (Lily Tomlin) is in a funk after the recent death of her longtime partner. She’s hardly fazed when her teenage granddaughter, Sage (Julia Garner), turns up at her house looking for financial help with an abortion. But grandma’s broke too, so the pair takes off around boho Los…
Pop-up food service Onion Maiden offers a fun and nostalgic take on vegan food
With menu items like Kale Satan and War Pig (a vegan hot dog with sautéed kale, cashew cheese or lentil chili), it’s clear that the folks behind mobile food company Onion Maiden are fans of heavy metal and puns. They’re also devoted to providing appealing options for those who don’t eat animal products. Onion Maiden…
The Tribe
Miroslav Slaboshpitsky’s debut feature is unlike any you’ve seen — and you will see it. The only language employed is Ukrainian sign language (with no translation, subtitles or intertitles), and the experience is both disorienting and engrossing. The general plot is easy enough to follow: A teenage boy, new to a rundown boarding school for…
Give brown ales some love this fall
Brown ales could use an image overhaul. Up against beers with “barrel-aged” and “imperial” in their names, how could a drab name like “brown ale” compete? Nevertheless, the classic, loosely defined style is worth another look. As the temperatures start to drop, brown ales offer a sessionable and food-friendly alternative to the almighty pumpkin beer.…
The Visit
It’s impossible to approach any new M. Night Shyamalan movie without some trepidation — there have been some epically bad movies in his spiral downward from his debut hit The Sixth Sense. And, when it’s an advertised thriller, you’ll be distracted looking for and anticipating a Big Twist. So perhaps because half my brain was…
Fall Arts Preview 2015
Click the links below for upcoming art, film, stage, dance, music and more: India in Focus Festival Visual Art Stage Literary Music Film Dance
New plays and new voices take to local stages
Navigation: Intro India in Focus Festival Visual Art Stage Literary Music Film Dance Newer plays, and voices new to Pittsburgh, are dominating theater this fall. On the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Caravan Theatre presents the Pittsburgh premiere of Lower Ninth (opens Sept. 24). The 2008 play — set on a rooftop during the storm,…
A long way from his early days playing house parties, British folk-punk artist Frank Turner is selling out venues around the world
FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS with SKINNY LISTER, BEANS ON TOAST 8 p.m. Sat., Sept. 19. Mr. Small’s Theatre. 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. Sold out. 412-821-4447 or mrsmalls.com In 2005, British singer-songwriter Frank Turner parted ways with his hardcore band, Million Dead, and began strumming his way around the U.K., playing house parties and…
India in Focus festival a likely highlight of the fall arts season
Navigation: Intro India in Focus Festival Visual Art Stage Literary Music Film Dance INDIA IN FOCUS Sept. 25-Nov. 9. Various venues, Downtown. Prices vary. 412-456-6666 or trustarts.org With 1.3 billion people, India is the second-largest nation on earth, and about 2.6 million Indian immigrants and their children call the United States home. Yet, except among…
Famed authors, internationally acclaimed poets and even a Feminist Zine Fest mark autumn’s literary calendar
Navigation: Intro India in Focus Festival Visual Art Stage Literary Music Film Dance Internationally renowned authors and speakers, as well as nonhousehold names of interest, are behind lecterns everywhere this fall. As usual, some of the biggest are at Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures, which opens its 25th season with journalist Hector Tobar (Sept. 21), whose…
Tom Verlaine returns to town, this time with seminal 70s punk band Television
THE WARHOL: SOUND SERIES presents TELEVISION 8 p.m. Fri., Sept. 25. Carnegie Music Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $30. 412-237-8300 or warhol.org Brian Eno once said the Velvet Underground sold a minimal number of albums, but everyone who bought them was inspired to form their own band. The implication is that the band’s ripple effect…
Modernism at the Carnegie, India in Focus Downtown, and much more on the fall visual-art schedule
Navigation: Intro India in Focus Festival Visual Art Stage Literary Music Film Dance The season’s big news includes the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust festival India in Focus. Venues throughout Pittsburgh’s Cultural District will be filled with work that showcases art created in and inspired by Indian culture. Wood Street Galleries will show videos and photographs by…
Variety is the word for Autumn’s musical offerings
Navigation: Intro India in Focus Festival Visual Art Stage Literary Music Film Dance After the usual late-August concert lull, September is bursting with notable performances, thanks — in large part — to the incidental tag-team scheduling of the VIA and Thrival festivals. By now, VIA is an institution and this new-music-and-media event (Sept. 24–Oct. 3)…
Local electronic label MISC Records helps kick off this year’s VIA Festival
VIA 2015 KICKOFF PARTY feat. ONDO, TOM MCCONNELL, IVIES 10 p.m. Fri., Sept. 25. Cattivo, 146 44th St., Lawrenceville. $7. 412-687-2157 or cattivopgh.com On Fri., Sept. 25, local record label MISC Records will be featured at the VIA Festival’s kick-off party at Cattivo, in Lawrenceville. Featuring musicians Ondo, Ivies and Tom McConnell, the night will…
Fall Film Preview
Navigation: Intro India in Focus Festival Visual Art Stage Literary Music Film Dance If you like films based on real-life stories, you’re in luck: Docudramas, bio-pics and historical re-enactments rule this fall. A lesbian couple (Julianne Moore, Ellen Page) fight back against discriminatory benefits practices in Freeheld, and Tom Hardy plays both Kray twins, infamous…
On the Record with Dr. Lonnie Smith
DR. LONNIE SMITH TRIO 8 p.m. Sat., Sept. 19. New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. $30. All ages. 412-322-0922 or newhazletttheater.org Dr. Lonnie Smith started playing Hammond B3 organ with George Benson, and went on to become one of the best-known practitioners of what is known as soul-jazz. He’ll tear it up…
From a Michael Jackson tribute to Attack Theatre and an ambitious Pittsburgh Ballet season, fall dance looks busy
Navigation: Intro India in Focus Festival Visual Art Stage Literary Music Film Dance From masterworks by George Balanchine, William Forsythe and Jiří Kylián to an Indian dance festival and a Michael Jackson tribute show, fall’s eclectic dance season is sure to satisfy most any dance-lover. Here’s a sampling. On Sept. 18, dancer/choreographer Jasmine Hearn joins a…
Critics’ Picks, Sept. 17-23
[ROCK] + THU., SEPT. 17 You could accuse Twin Shadow of many things, but being “elitist” probably isn’t one of them. Nevertheless, George Lewis Jr. branded his first two records as such — even though 2012’s great Confess powered into a pastiche of the Top Gun soundtrack. To tone down the elitism of cruising around…
In redevelopment of the Civic Arena site, public subsidies, community-benefits agreements remain unresolved
Barack Obama was recently in Alaska talking about dangerous climate change even as he announced plans to allow Shell to begin major Arctic drilling. This seemingly stark hypocrisy is likely more complex than it looks. Doubtless, the president dislikes but cannot stop oil drilling, while he admires but cannot fully implement environmental sustainability. The world’s…
Should “micro transit” have to play by the same rules as PAT?
Meet Allegheny County’s “secret” shuttles: Ride ACTA and Heritage Community Transportation are “micro-transit” services that provide some 240,000 rides a year to mostly low-income riders, in suburban areas that aren’t covered by the Port Authority. While many locals haven’t heard of them, these tiny transportation groups provide a crucial service. And some see them as…
Jeremy Beightol and Brian Holderman impress at The Gallery 4
STRANDED IN THE UNDERWORLD continues through Sept. 26. The Gallery 4, 206 S. Highland Ave., Shadyside. 412-363-5050 or thegallery4.us The Gallery 4 consistently produces some of the most intriguing exhibitions in the area, and the current joint show Stranded in the Underworld, featuring works by Jeremy Beightol and Brian Holderman, is no exception. Two artists with…
Acro-Cats
AMAZING ACRO-CATS Sept. 17-27. Bricolage, 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $22-27. circuscats.com This weekend, Pittsburghers might notice rolling into town a 1963 tour bus adorned with giant decal whiskers and cat eyes. Inside it will be the Amazing Acro-Cats, a feline circus, coming to perform at Bricolage Productions, Downtown. Fourteen rescue cats, ranging in age from…
Games of the Mind at Throughline Theatre
GAMES OF THE MIND continues through Sat., Sept. 19. Throughline Theatre at Grey Box Theatre, 3595 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $15-20. throughlinetheatre.org To my way of thinking, there’s not a funnier gag-writer in Pittsburgh than F. J. Hartland. His lines can snap and crackle, and his plays are usually an occasion for unbridled hootin’ and hollerin’.…
Savage Love
My son, who is almost 30 years old, was married four years ago. He just shared with us that for the last three years, he and his wife have been practicing polyamory. They are committed to their relationship but have each had relationships with both men and women. We are trying to get our heads…
Dead Accounts at Little Lake
DEAD ACCOUNTS continues through Sept. 26. Little Lake Theatre, 500 Lakeside Dr., Canonsburg. $12-20. 724-745-6300 or littlelake.org The tale of the prodigal son might be a familiar one, but Theresa Rebeck’s Dead Accounts, now at Little Lake Theatre Co., transforms this well-worn premise into something unabashedly weird and modern. When we meet Jack (Gregory Caridi),…
The Pittsburgh Passion are building a new, old Pittsburgh tradition
With Labor Day behind us, as we move full steam ahead into fall, it’s natural to reflect on the summer of 2015. With Pittsburgh being a diverse city, I’m sure we all spent the warmer months a little differently. Some folks vacationed in foreign lands and swam in exotic Mediterranean locales. Some hit the Southern…
Look again: Jacqueline Humphries’ paintings at the Carnegie
FORUM 75: JACQUELINE HUMPHRIES continues through Oct. 5. Carnegie Museum of Art, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. 412-622-3131 or cmoa.org Standing in a contemplative pose before the paintings of Jacqueline Humphries is not enough. Rather than let the eyes do all the work, it’s better to move one’s whole body side to side, forward and back.…
Short List: September 17-23
SPOTLIGHT: Sun., Sept. 20 — Music Once bankrupt, and shuttered for more than a year, the August Wilson Center is poised for rebirth. The Center, which first opened in 2009, is now debt-free (thanks to local foundations), managed by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and installing a new board. On Sun., Sept. 20, its new management…
Lynn Cullen Live 9/15/15
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Jack Kelly’s repulsive column in the PG. Tony Norman’s round up of all the movies Jimmy Carter watched while in office. 14 year old arrested for bringing a clock to school. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and…
Pittsburgh based artists display talents at Wizard World Comic Con
Video by Aaron Warnick
Lynn Cullen Live 9/15/15
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Lynn atones for the new year. Carson pulls even to Trump. Sanders’ chances. The Latino vote. Wise quotes. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
