PSO introduces Front Row: The PSO Virtual Experience
Update: Tue., Oct. 13 While the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Front Row: The PSO Virtual Experience is free and available to the public on their website, Comcast Xfinity customers in Pittsburgh and throughout southwestern Pennsylvania can now also access episodes via On Demand – bringing the performances to a bigger screen. To do so, customers should…
After months off the radar, Lemon Tree Records returns with Lemon Tree Split Tapes vol. 2
Pittsburgh bands TV’s NORM and God’s Green Apples are on opposite sides of the alt-rock spectrum. And that’s exactly why Bobby Smith, owner and founder of Lemon Tree Records, paired the two together for Lemon Tree Split Tapes vol. 2. “I think this is the perfect showcase of two bands who sound nothing alike but…
These Pittsburgh-area candidates don’t want to participate in upcoming debates
With the presidential race, and really President Donald Trump’s controversies, hogging all of the political headlines during the end of the campaign season, voters in the Pittsburgh area might be looking for answers about where other, local candidates stand. Down-ballot candidates for state House and state Senate are less visible than others, and many voters…
What to know about the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board 2020 ballot question
The official Election Day is not until Nov. 3, but voting has already started in Pennsylvania, with thousands of people using mail-in ballots. Ballots include voting in the presidential election and state legislative contests, but, for city of Pittsburgh residents, there is also an important measure about whether or not to expand the power of…
Pittsburgh’s Little Italy Days festival canceled for 2020
After initially being rescheduled from its usual slot in August to the second weekend in October, the Little Italy Days festival in Bloomfield has been canceled this year. Festival organizer Sal Richetti said the festival has been canceled because of coronavirus restrictions, and worries about the safety of festival attendees. Allegheny County is still seeing…
Steelers to allow 5,500 fans at future home games after COVID restrictions lessened
Today, Gov. Tom Wolf announced new guidelines for large gathering events which will lessen coronavirus restrictions and allow outdoor venues to have a maximum of 10,000 people attend things like sporting events. Under the new, more lenient restrictions, Heinz Field will now allow up to 7,500 people attend Pittsburgh Steelers games, which includes stadium employees,…
Song Spotlight: Sam Stucky’s “Breathe In”
Every morning during the summer and fall of 2019, Sam Stucky would take a walk. He was trying to work on having a more consistent routine. “Someone had told me that taking a morning walk and meditating every morning was a really good way to master your mindset,” says the Pittsburgh alt-rock singer/songwriter. “Whether or…
Reel Q LGBT Film Festival goes virtual for its 35th year
For decades, the Reel Q LGBT Film Festival has been bringing together a slate of local, national, and international films centering the LGBTQ community. Instead of gathering in movie theaters this year, the 35th annual Reel Q festival is going virtual with a slate of 21 documentaries, dramas, romantic comedies, and short films. The festival runs Oct.8-17…
Port Authority looking to hire first-ever Director of Equity and Inclusion
Yesterday, the Port Authority of Allegheny County announced it was seeking a new position for Pittsburgh’s public-transit agency, one that is focused on creating equity across all aspects of Port Authority’s decision making. The job advertisement was placed on Indeed for a Director of Equity and Inclusion. It reads in part: “This will be the…
Lynn Cullen Live – 10/6/20
Video Archive Lynn is being joined by her sister Susan. They are discussing Trump returning to the White House from Walter Reed, and the spreading of Covid-19 through the White House staff. There is no plan to do contract tracing from Rose Garden ceremony. Audio Only Archive Stream or download the last 5 shows on…
Toomey’s exit kick-starts 2022 guesswork among Pennsylvania politicos
Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey’s announcement that he will retire from politics in 2022 has served as a starting gun of sorts for speculation about that year’s two marquee Pennsylvania races: U.S. Senator and Governor. In one fell swoop, Toomey took his name out of the running to replace current Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, and…
University of Pittsburgh sophomore among first women Eagle Scouts in history
On Oct. 1, University of Pittsburgh sophomore Lauren Nedrow joined an extremely exclusive club as one of the first women to ever earn the rank of Eagle Scout as part of BSA, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America. According to PittWire, Nedrow is studying neuroscience in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts…
Geiger Shulman calls for debate in Pittsburgh’s most competitive race, Mizgorski silent
Pennsylvania’s 30th state House District has, politically, been changing fast over the years and is currently the region’s most competitive district. In 2018, state Rep. Lori Mizgorski (R-Shaler) won the district by less than five percentage points, and Democrats have made the district a target to flip. Despite being mostly in Republicans hands, many district…
Jack Swing widens the scope of rock on latest EP
The vigorous sound of Pittsburgh rock band Jack Swing centers around energy. Not the energy acquired from drinking a cup of coffee or the energy a machine gets from being plugged in, but the contagious zeal and zest experienced at a live performance. That feeling is what Jack Swing — made up of Isaiah Ross…
Pittsburgh Solidarity for Change
After over 200 artist-submitted applications, work has begun for the “Pittsburgh Solidarity for Change” project, including a colorful John Lewis mural in Uptown. Kyle Holbrook, executive artist with the MLK Mural Project, in collaboration with Carlow University Social Justice Institutes, selected 30 artists into the new program, with each piece of art having a lead…
Lynn Cullen Live – 10/5/20
Video Archive Lynn’s back from her week off, and she’s covering as much of the big news that occurred during that time as possible. First up she’s talking about the Presidential Debate specifically Trump’s refusal to condemn white supremacy, and his call out to the Proud Boys. She is also explaining mail in voting, and…
Pat Toomey not seeking re-election means the Pa. GOP can no longer pretend it’s moderate
Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Lehigh) has no intentions to run for re-election for his U.S. Senate seat, nor will he run for governor in 2022, which he was widely rumored to be interested in. “His decision not to run for that office or for Senate could create two wide open…
Bipartisan Pennsylvania rent-assistance fix stalled after House session cut short
Last month, evictions resumed in Pennsylvania, as the state’s eviction moratorium was lifted. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention responded with their own eviction rules, but loopholes meant evictions were still issued. On Sept. 1, judges in Allegheny County received 181 eviction claims, about three times what the court processed in a typical day…
The Lawrenceville Farmers Market extends its season through mid-December
The last time Sara Draper-Zivetz, market manager for the Lawrenceville Farmers Market, spoke with Pittsburgh City Paper, she was facing a world of unknowns. Draper-Zivetz was preparing to open a farmers market mid-pandemic, and, like all markets that operated during the 2020 season, was focused on creating a safe environment. Designing a low-risk market meant…
Democrats and some Republicans express concern with proposed “election integrity” panel
Republicans in the Pennsylvania House sought this week to give a select committee — that they would control — subpoena power to oversee the integrity of the 2020 election. The bill stoked concerns among Democrats that Republicans were attempting to delay results and pave the way for the GOP-controlled House to appoint its own electors…
Check out these movie events in Pittsburgh leading up to Halloween
While the COVID-19 pandemic has moved film screenings online or canceled them altogether, some Pittsburgh theaters are still trying to celebrate the Halloween season. Pittsburgh City Paper has compiled a range of movie events, from mildly spooky family favorites to more terrifying selections, so horror fans can enjoy the season. Possessor at Waterworks Cinemas and…
KKK fliers distributed in Greene County; police investigating
Yesterday, a number of fliers spreading messages of the Ku Klux Klan white supremacist group were found throughout Greene County, about an hour south of Pittsburgh. KDKA first reported on the fliers, and said that the Greene County Regional Police Department is investigating. The fliers read in part, “Vote: Pro-White!!!” and “Vote: Pro-America!” and “Vote:…
In Pittsburgh during train-stop tour, Biden pitches himself as a son of the working class
Former Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday painted himself as a proud member of the working class who knows intimately the daily realities of struggling families, and President Donald Trump as an out-of-touch New Yorker who only cares about the ultra-rich. “As soon as he got elected, he forgot the forgotten man,” Biden said of…
Manual Cinema gives new life to Frankenstein at the City Theatre Drive-In Arts Festival
When it comes to authors becoming just as legendary as their work, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley has to be among the most notable. The fateful summer 19-year-old Shelley came up with her seminal horror novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus – the result of a friendly story-writing competition with her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron,…
Netflix announces release date of Pittsburgh-shot Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, starring the late Chadwick Boseman
In July 2019, Pittsburgh’s North Side became 1920s Chicago for the filming of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, an adaptation of the August Wilson play of the same name. Netflix announced today that the film would premiere on the streaming service on Fri., Dec. 18. The announcement is bittersweet, as Ma Rainey stars actor Chadwick Boseman, and…
ELECTION 2020 VIDEO TRAINING: Students, Seniors, and Get-Out-The-Vote
The above video is the fourth in a four-part non-partisan webinar community training series aiming to help Pennsylvania nonprofits, community groups, and organizations ensure their hard-to-reach neighbors vote in the upcoming general election. The first video, a training on Tools, Key Dates, & Voter Registration Day, can be seen here: ELECTION 2020 VIDEO TRAINING -…
A changing story by police on a rural Pa. shooting helped fuel white vigilantes and misinformation
It was a bit after 11 p.m. in late August when Frank Nitty and a group of Black and white civil rights activists stopped along a highway in rural Bedford County. The group was on day 20 of a march from Milwaukee to Washington, D.C. While walking the roads through Indiana, Nitty said, police barred…
A COVID Love Story
There was something about the way Ira Madison III said, “OkCupid.” The Keep It podcast host compelled me to stop and listen to the entire ad, even though I usually hit that 30 sec fast forward button on my phone. Mr. Madison reminded me of Debbie Allen on the TV show Fame, acknowledging a dancer…
Greensburg native Sujata Day has already made it in Hollywood, but now she wants to bring her Pittsburgh experiences to the big screen
Sujata Day had a fairly typical Southwestern Pennsylvania childhood. She went to summer camp in Erie. She attended Catholic school for a while. She was part of a close-knit community that came over every year for Thanksgiving dinner and ate turkey and cranberry sauce. There are some things that are less typical about Day’s upbringing,…
Seven Days of Arts+Entertainment: Oct. 1-7
Music and Poetry Thu., Oct. 1 At a virtual City of Asylum event for Jazz Poetry Month, four jazz musicians perform pieces responding to Douglas Kearney’s poem “Tallahatchie LullaBye, Baby,” a vivid ode to Emmett Till and ongoing racial injustices. 7 p.m. Free. alphabetcity.org Virtual Art Fri., Oct. 2 Join the Pittsburgh Glass Center for…
Upcoming memoir is a love letter to Pittsburgh’s iconic Squirrel Cage
Jan Cavrak still gets up between 3:30 and 4 a.m. even though she doesn’t have any place to go. It’s hard to break a routine of 40 years, harder still to fathom that four decades have elapsed since she saw a help-wanted sign written in black magic marker outside the Squirrel Hill Café: Daytime waitress,…
Takeout Review: Pizza burger from St. Clair Social
When I first heard of the pizza burger on the menu at St. Clair Social — Friendship’s newest bar, from owners Cat Cannon and Cecil Usher — I pictured a clunky, greasy fusion of slices and patties. But when I broke into my take-out box, there was no pizza in sight. It was more of…
Adda Coffee & Tea House’s Weekly Sunday Showcase Series mixes music and charity
During the start of the pandemic, Nicolette Kalafatis, the newly appointed community manager for Adda Coffee & Tea House, was tasked with coming up with ideas to keep the business going online. One day, while chatting with her friend and local musician Nick Snyder of Ferdinand the Bull, he asked if Adda would ever be…
Seven Days of Music: Oct. 1-7
Thu., Oct. 1 (IRL) Granger Smith. 7:30-10:30 p.m. Starlight Drive-In, 1985 N. Main St., Butler. $140-200. starlightdrive-in.com Grab your cowboy boots and close friends and family; Granger Smith is bringing his country stylings to Starlight Drive-In. Maybe his alter ego, Earl Dibbles Jr., will be there, too. Fri., Oct. 2 (IRL) Phil Bombs. 7…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY: Oct. 1-7
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In her high school yearbook, Libra-born Sigourney Weaver arranged to have this caption beneath her official photo: “Please, God, please, don’t let me be normal!” Since then, she has had a long and acclaimed career as an actor in movies. ScreenPrism.com calls her a pioneer of female action heroes. Among her…
