Pittsburgh City Paper

Free Admission at the Carnegie Tomorrow

Bill O'Driscoll — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:00:00 -0400

The Carnegie Museums of art and natural history will offer free admission from 3:30 p.m. until closing time, 8 p.m., as part of the Association of Art Museum Directors’ Art Museum Day.

Art Museum Day is officially Friday, but the Carnegie is piggybacking its free admission on its monthly Culture Club happy hour. Tomorrow’s Culture Club includes a screening of an episode from the current season of PBS series Art21, and a discussion of a work from the museum’s collection by Glenn Ligon.…

Savage Love

Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

Beat cops don't generally give the benefit of the doubt to guys rubbing 'em out in public toilets. I work in an office tower in Seattle. From time to time, I go to a bathroom on a mostly deserted floor, go into a stall and rub out a quick one.…

Elles

Al Hoff — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

A journalist working on a story about prostitution is the catalyst for exploring sex and power in this French drama by Al Hoff Anne (Juliette Binoche, in fine form) is a Parisian journalist, working on a story about two college students who moonlight as prostitutes. Each is attracted to the money — one girl is from the housing projects, the other is a Polish immigrant.…

Prom Night

Andy Mulkerin — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

Slices invites you to a magical night at Caliente by Andy Mulkerin p>After some stops and starts in the lead-up to the release of Still Cruising, Slices decided not to have a proper record-release show. But what they are having will be plenty proper: Welcome to Slices Prom.…

"Happy Ending" & "Day of Absence"

Michelle Pilecki — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

The plays are often funny, though none of the laughs is a comfortable chuckle by Michelle Pilecki Given the success of and controversy about the movie The Help last year, it certainly would be instructive to hear from real African Americans of that period on "domestic service" and the larger community. Kuntu Repertory Theatre delivers, diving into 1965 for the vision of Douglas Turner Ward's "Happy Ending" and "Day of Absence."…

Making a Living Building

Bill O'Driscoll — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

by Bill O'Driscoll On a brilliant spring day, it looks much like any other construction site: beefy guys in hardhats pouring concrete and running backhoes. But Phipps Conservatory's new Center for Sustainable Landscapes might revolutionize how we think about our built environment.…

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Al Hoff — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

Good performances from stalwart British actors save this oddly old-fashioned dramedy by Al Hoff First the good news: A lot of your favorite British actors are in this dramedy, and they all deliver the sorts of winning performances that have earned them our affection. A group of British retirees cash out at home and relocate to a faded residence hotel in Jaipur, India.…

Poet Robert Gibb's exacting approach serves him well in a new collection

Fred Shaw — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

Sheet Music feels like a tour through local art, jazz and other touchstones by Fred Shaw As a grad student being mentored by Robert Gibb, I found his poetics to be clearly stated. Concrete imagery was good, abstraction was not.…

Former fIREHOSE frontman serves up FOOD

Andy Mulkerin — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

"I told the other two guys, give me a year or two and you can quit your day jobs." by Andy Mulkerin In 1986, when he was a student at Ohio State University, Ed Crawford managed, with some persistence, to convince Mike Watt and George Hurley to take a chance on him. The guitarist, who hadn't played in a band in his life, joined the legendary Minutemen rhythm section shortly after the tragic death of their guitarist, D. Boon, and became part of fIREHOSE.…

Dark Shadows

Harry Kloman — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp put their studiously idiosyncratic spin of the 1960s soap, to no avail by Harry Kloman The 1960s cult soap opera Dark Shadows was in the ratings crapper for about a year — until it morphed into a story about the moody vampire Barnabas Collins and a gallery of other supernaturals in his eponymous town of Collinsport, Maine. This innovative choice extended its life for four years and two feature films — not really all that great for a vampire, when you think about it.…

James Street Gastropub & Speakeasy

Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

This North Side restaurant succeeds, riffing on the venue's storied past while hitting plenty of high notes of its own by Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth James Street Gastropub & Speakeasy represents the rebirth of a great Pittsburgh tradition: jazz, food and drink on the North Side. The shuttering of the original James Street Tavern, an institution at the corner of Foreland and James streets in Deutschtown, coincided with the disappearance of several other jazz clubs in town, shaking what was once a strong cultural foundation of live jazz in Pittsburgh.…

Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview

Al Hoff — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

In this 1995 interview, Jobs talks early Apple, what went wrong, and about the future by Al Hoff In 1995, Bob Cringely interviewed various computer-industry players for his TV series Triumph of the Nerds, among them Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Only 10 minutes of the 70-minute interview aired, and the master tape was lost.…

Local actor finds success with online puppet comedy

Bill O'Driscoll — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

"Do I bust my butt at an audition and not get looked at, or do I do something that I feel is substantial?" by Bill O'Driscoll Mark Turner has found success in New York, but not exactly as he planned. Instead of securing it onstage, he's so far gotten more attention online, with comedy and ... puppets.…

Critics' Picks

Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

Local shows by Comeback Kid, The Polyphonic Spree, David Krakauer and Sonny Vincent, plus a CD release show for Shark Tank. [PUNK] + THU., MAY 17 What's not to love about a band named after a newspaper headline mentioning Mario Lemieux's 2000 professional hockey return?…

The Dictator

Al Hoff — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

Sacha Baron Cohen switches gears, delivering another button-pushing protagonist, but in a scripted fish-out-of-water comedy by Al Hoff After unleashing his agit-prop characters Borat and Bruno on the unsuspecting public in previous films, Sacha Baron Cohen switches gears slightly, delivering another button-pushing protagonist, but in a scripted fish-out-of-water comedy. In Larry Charles' The Dictator, Cohen portrays the titular character, a made-up megalomaniacal despot from a made-up North African country, who — through various comic circumstances — finds himself wandering unknown through New York City with only a veggie peacenik (Anna Faris) for support.…

Penn's Corner Online Farmstand is an alternative to CSA boxes

Chris Potter — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

Shop local farms from home, and for exactly what you want by Chris Potter Here's my problem with community-supported agriculture: There's only so much kale I can stand to eat. Joining a CSA means receiving a share of a farm's weekly produce, whatever that happens to be.…

On the Record with Jacques Greene

Kate Magoc — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

The Montreal-based producer had us all singing "Another Girl" for months on end last year. by Kate Magoc Jacques Greene, the Montreal-based producer who had us all singing "Another Girl" for months on end last year, brings his live show to the Lawrenceville Moose this Thursday. What music contributed to the development of your sound most?…

Warhol musical POP! has bite

Ted Hoover — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

We are inside looking around rather than outsiders staring in by Ted Hoover The considerable punch of City Theatre's POP! is a collective power building almost intangibly to land, at the end, like a sock in the jaw.…

No Room for Improvement: Too many hurdles doom South Side service district

Lauren Daley — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

"To change communities is a complex beast." by Lauren Daley As longtime South Side resident Sue Booritch took the microphone at the monthly South Side Planning Forum meeting, she received raucous applause. In part, it was because she opposed a new neighborhood-specific tax proposal.…

Crooked Arrows

Al Hoff — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

A ragtag lacrosse team taps their Native American heritage by Al Hoff Steve Rash's inspirational sports tale may well be the first film about lacrosse — even though the game has been played on North American soil longer than any other. (Native Americans played spiritually inspired lacrosse matches that lasted more than a day.)…

Amaro, an obscure Italian liquor, gains larger audience

Hal B. Klein — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

"It's a really great way to add depth and character, and they're all so different." by Hal B. Klein Amaro, a class of bitter Italian liquors, is a bit of a mystery to most people. "It's very different for people to see all these bottles and not know what they are," says Kiersten Schilinski, a bartender at the South Side's Dish Osteria.…

Slices is still cruising, evolving

Andy Mulkerin — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

One has to assume that the members delight somewhat in playing aggressive music without necessarily looking the black-clothes-and-tattoos part. by Andy Mulkerin Back in 2004, Pittsburgh's small but dedicated experimental-music scene met Slices — at the time, a two-piece comprising brothers John and Mike Kasunic. They manipulated feedback, using a no-input mixer and other noodly electronic equipment.…

At the Toonseum, a traveling exhibit honors comics pioneer Will Eisner.

Robert Raczka — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

Recognized as a great comic artist, Eisner was simply a first-rate artist. by Robert Raczka Will Eisner's New York, a traveling exhibit from New York City's Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, honors the creative achievements of this towering figure in the world of cartooning. As good as the work looks on the printed page, this Toonseum exhibit offers greater rewards in its surprisingly fresh original works, mostly black-and-white ink drawings, that leap off the page with their sureness of touch.…

Downtown

Tue, 15 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400

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MP3 Monday: Motorpsychos

Andy Mulkerin — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:04:00 -0400

Welcome to MP3 Monday!

This week we're bringing you a track from Motorpsychos, the long-standing punk-metal band that's releasing its latest, Sheppard's File, with a show this Saturday, May 19 at the 31st Street Pub. (Rogue Signals and Solarburn open the night.)…