11/5/14 -11/11/14 Arts and Urbanism Roundup

Pittsburgh

Conflict Kitchen's Palestinian programming under siege (Hyperallergic)

The BBC's mobile news bureau experiment stops in Pittsburgh (Essential Pittsburgh)

Blame this Pittsburgh official for daylight savings time (Government Executive)

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra plays it by ear when hiring musicians (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Cleveland

Cleveland voters pass law that eliminates all city traffic cameras (USA Today)

Cleveland suburb, Maple Heights, Ohio also votes to remove traffic cameras (Cleveland.com)

Study projects Cleveland's downtown may have 23,000 residents in 5 years (ABC 5)

Walkable townhome development planned in Lakewood, Ohio (Cleveland.com)

Cuyahoga County expected to borrow $168 million to repair and spruce up government buildings (Cleveland Scene)

West Virginia and Appalachia

18 year old freshman elected to house of delegates becomes youngest state lawmaker in U.S.
(CBS DC)

As coal jobs vanish, miners search or new careers (Associated Press)

Other Urbanism and Architecture news

NYC's hugely expensive Fulton Center transit hub opens to riders (NY1)

Americans aren't as car dependent as you might think (Streetsblog USA)

New Urbanism Film Festival kicks of in Los Angeles (Streetsblog LA)

Feeding the homeless: Act of charity or a crime? (My Fox Houston)

Airbnb finally adds a "don't secretly film guests" policy (BetaBeat)

How wearable tech will transform walkability of our cities (Tech Cocktail)

Does Pheonix have a soul?  (AZ Central)

An Etsy co-founder and his wife have big plans for Albuquerque (CityLab)

Is America's civic-architecture inherently racist?  (Intercultural Urbanism)

In symbolic vote, 80% of Catalans support independence from Spain (Yahoo News)

Why some places still have plenty of pay phones (CityLab)

The rise of invisible unemployment (CityLab)

Germany celebrates 25th anniversary of fall of the Berlin Wall  (Wall Street Journal)

Other arts and archeology news 

A treasure hunt for undiscovered American artists (CBS Sunday Morning)

Brooklyn art center uses Airbnb to fund its programming (Hyperallergic)

Former director of NY's Frick Museum speaks out against expansion plan (Artnet)

Sotheby's Q3 revenue drops 12.7 percent (ArtNews)

Qatari sheikh, once one of the world's top art collectors dies suddenly 
(The Art Newspaper)

Norwegian architects fight to save historic National Gallery (The Art Newspaper)

U.K. copyright laws prevent display of hundred year old soldier's letters and other historic documents  (Reason)

Islamists blow up church dedicated to victims of the Armenian genocide (Public Radio of Armenia)

10/28/14 - 11/4/14 Arts and Urbanism Roundup

Pittsburgh

Oakland-Downtown Pittsburgh transit plan full of promises but short on funding (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Suburban Pittsburgh leaders push for bicycle lanes (Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

New Ohiopyle Visitors Center offers spectacular views (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

American Theater Magazine looks at Pittsburgh's site specific Quantum Theatre (American Theater Magazine)

Frostburg, Maryland

Two public sculptures unveiled on Allegheny Passage Bike Trail

Pennsylvania 

A growing force in PA: Independent voters 

Cleveland

The rise of the Cleveland Museum of Art (Belt Magazine)

Ohio Magazine features walkable Cleveland suburb of Lakewood as one of the states best hometowns (Cleveland.com)

Republican National Convention sparks inflated rental market (Cleveland.com)

PlayhouseSquare lights up for Winterfest 2014 (wkyc.com)

Shipping container architecture trend expands in Cleveland (wkyc.com)

Akron

Devo co-founder, Mark Mothersbaugh and film director, Wes Anderson consider concept of surreal theme park in Akron (Time Magazine)

Other Urbanism and Architecture News

Share of first-time home buyers hits 27 year low (Wall Street Journal)

NFL Teams harness stadiums as museums (New York Times)

Great Lakes cities found at the intersection of walkable and affordable  (Great Lakes Echo)

Why middle class Americans can't afford to live in liberal cities (The Atlantic)

The case for trailer parks : Pre-fab homes grow as affordable quality housing option (National Journal)

Smartphones vs. taxi drivers (Reason)

Is the U.S. ready for seniors who want to stop driving? (Streetsblog)

Judge slams door on Uber in Nevada  (KOLO8 News)

Where are the world's most dangerous transit systems for women?  (CNN Travel)

New York City transit ranked safest for women among 16 major metro systems (Metro)

Why Minneapolis' beautiful bike freeways are totally the best (Grist)

Are walkable neighborhoods and bike lanes only for the creative class? (Public CEO)

Tiny houses have a not so tiny problem (Fast Company)

Tiny houses save Orlando owners money (Click Orlando)

Documentary to explore racism in transportation planning
(Streetsblog)

In violent Venezuela bulletproof everything (Yahoo News)

Ten little cities near D.C. with awesome urbanism (Greater Greater Washington)

Other Arts and Archeology News

Alberto Giacometti's Chariot sculpture expected to break record, sell or over $100 million (CNBC)

Chris Ofili's thumping art history lesson (New York Magazine)

The Getty unveils unpublished cache of Joseph Cornell's letters (Hyperallergic)

Columbian art is having a moment  (The Art Newspaper)

Documenting caves used in the Irish War of Independence

Basquiat's unseen notebooks coming to the Brooklyn Museum (The Art Newspaper)

Fake Monet forgeries hit the auction block (Artnet)

Crowdsourcing may be transforming the film industry (Wired)

Amelia Earhart plane fragment identified (Discovery News)

The Cleveland Foundation offering 2,300 Free Theater Tickets for November 30th shows

• “A Christmas Story” by Cleveland Play House at the Allen Theatre at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. (family-friendly show)

• “A Christmas Carol” by Great Lakes Theater at the Ohio Theatre at 3 p.m. (family-friendly show)

• “The Santaland Diaries” by Cleveland Public Theatre at the Outcalt Theatre at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (adults-only show)

There will be an online ticket lottery system for the chance to be randomly selected to receive up to four tickets to a single performance.

See all the details here:

With friends like these: Seeing Possibility in East Liverpool and the Ohio River Valley

Caveat:

I have never been to East Liverpool, and not driving, has prevented me from exploring the area more deeply, which is the main reason I don't post much about it. I have been around Wheeling a few times.

What press regional cities like Wheeling, Weirton, Steubenville and East Liverpool do get tends towards the negative.

Rust Wire hosted a typical post-(By a girl allegedly trying to help) playing on every stereotype- starting with a highly inaccurate headline, "East Liverpool and the Unforgiving Economy of Rural Appalachia".

"It’s a city where almost every second or third house seems to be abandoned, and not just abandoned. Some are burnt out. Some are falling down. The locals talk about the incessant and merciless drug traffic. They say dealers have come up to the city from the east coast – having found a robust market for heroin and other opiates. The drug trade wreaks constant havoc on the streets. In late September, five people were shot there in a single night."

Crime, abandonment, drugs, toxic chemicals, high cancer rates, sadly all too true. But.. this is hardly more Appalachia (Some stretches of the river better fit that description) than Pittsburgh itself is. East Liverpool is about a 35 minute drive from Pittsburgh International Airport. You can't really be near a major Airport and in "Appalachia" at the same time, these places lack the isolation that defines Appalachian poverty.

What makes their condition so tragic is how they are being left behind in an increasing thriving regional economy. A few clicks on street view, shows what are still very beautiful towns with the remains of deluxe main street amenities- mini Pittsburghs.

Two major issues seem to come to mind.

1) The huge impact the loss of rail links. River towns on often narrow flood plains are not well suited to auto-centric development.

2) The strong tendency to still see often destructive heavy industries as their only chance at jobs, even as automation has radically shrunk the need for workers.

This post will hopefully trigger a conversation about better leveraging the awesome assets, history and location of these communities and better linking them to greater Pittsburgh.

West Virginia's Fairmont State University Publishes Collection of Appalachian Ghost Stories

From a site called Appalachian History

These stories have been compiled by a number of writers, many from long standing local legends and edited by Dr. Ruth Ann Musick.

"In these stories, ghosts fill and color the folk landscape of Appalachia, making trouble and causing disturbances for people from all walks of life. In “The Family That Disappeared,” a ghostly mist haunts a family, while a group of lumberjacks experience the fright of their lives in “Ike the Lumberjack.” A young couple find themselves living in a haunted house in “A Night of Horror,” and in “The Ghost of the Golden Cup,” an antique dealer finds that he has gotten himself into more than he had bargained for. The uncanny and the macabre fill these authentic Appalachian ghost tales, breathing life into the stories of the undead."

 "The complete version of this article can be found in Traditions, Vol. 13, which you can order from The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center, Fairmont, WV. The price for an issue of the journal is $10.00 which includes shipping plus information about becoming a Friend of the Folklife Center and its various activities."

10/22/14- 10/28/14 Arts and Urbanism Roundup

Pittsburgh 

Pitt Football brings back classic script helmet design (Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

Heinz Field facing growing no-show problem (CBS Pittsburgh)

Video series: The scariest haunted houses in the Pittsburgh area (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Fire at Flight 93 Memorial raises questions about the National Park Service's ability to protect historic artifacts (Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

Natural History Museum reaches out to over 21 crowd  (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Google thanks Polio vaccine developer, Jonas Salk with a Google Doodle (Washington Post)

Pioneering Penn Ave alternative arts venue, Garfield Art Works closing in December (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Greensburg 

Restored Greensburg Civil War statue may move out of courthouse soon

Cleveland 

Top Cleveland dive and neighborhood bars: Photo Gallery (Cleveland.com)

Why is Baldwin Wallace University ashamed to say it's near Cleveland? (Diggingpitt)

Devo releases recording of 1977 Cleveland show as a live album (Consequence of Sound)

Cleveland theater company adopts Night of the Living Dead for the stage (Cleveland Scene)

Making beautiful music in a Cleveland retirement community (CBS Evening News)

Akron

Akron musicians break in new downtown jazz club (Akron Beacon Journal)


Ohio

Spotify study shows Ohio State students listen to the most classical music (The Lantern)

Chicago

95 problems: A walk down the South Side's most notorious "stroad" (Streetsblog Chicago)

Detroit

Renovation work starts on Detroit's huge, historic Packard plant complex

Other Urbanism News

How asset foreiture allows cops to steal from citizens  (Reason)

The most expensive housing markets in the U.S. are also the most Liberal (The Washington Post)

Is 21 days enough for Ebola quarantine?  (Five Thirty Eight Science)

World Series is on and everybody's watching...football (New York Times)

Redfin buys Walk Score (Wired)

Real Estate network sues Zillow, claims the company stole trade secrets (Puget Sound Business Journal)

California community suffers as wells dry up in drought (Yahoo News)

New urbanisim hits the suburbs, as pricey condos multiply on Long Island  (Wall Street Journal)

The death of the suburban corporate campus (Better Cities and Towns)

Florida's Department of Transportation doesn't seem to know its own rules (Streetsblog)

Why cities need localists (The American Conservative)

Why Conservatives must engage urbanism (The American Conservative)

Is America finally saying no to junk food? (CBS Moneywatch)

Other Arts and Architecture News

You can legally busk in New York's subways but a cop might arrest you anyway. (Reason)

Frieze Art Fair: where great refinement meets harrowing vulgarity (The Spectator)

Frank Gehry, gives critics the finger- literally  (Arch Daily)

11 at risk American art landscapes (Art Net)

What to do with Uruguay's massive shipwrecked Nazi bronze? (Art Net)

Subtle street art: 27 easy to overlook urban enhancements (Web Urbanist)

Affordable housing plan threatens Parisian street art haven (Hyperallergic)

750-year old city founded by Genghis Khan's grandson is unearthed (Hyperallergic)

Why is Baldwin Wallace Ashamed of Cleveland?

Baldwin Wallace University is a small but highly ranked school currently running radio ads in the Pittsburgh market.

Nothing wrong with the school from what I can see. Some highlights:

"BW is also ranked among the Best Midwestern Colleges by the Princeton Review and as a Best College Value by Kiplinger's."

 About 19% of our freshmen rank in the top ten percent of their graduating class, while 54% rank in the top quarter.

 Neuroscience program:  Since inception in 1998, 95% of its students who have applied have been accepted into graduate programs or medical school.

 Music Theatre program:  Ranked among the top ten in the country by Backstage, the industry's professional journal."

Nothing really wrong with the ads either, which encourage Pittsburgh students to check out a great school- only two hours from Pittsburgh.

Two hours in which direction? Near what? You have to Google to discover they are almost in Cleveland !!!

Sports jokes aside, what makes them so reluctant to say so? Wouldn't a medical student like to know about the Cleveland Clinic or music students be interested in Cleveland's internationally acclaimed orchestra?

Contrast these Baldwin Wallace ads with Point Park's proud Pittsburgh-centric sales pitch and you see the glaring difference between the two cities.

Before Cleveland can market itself to the world it needs to convince local and regional institutions it is a worthwhile place.

Chuck Connelly : My America @ The Andy Warhol Museum

Chuck Connelly: My America @ The Andy Warhol Museum for the Pittsburgh Biennial 2014 from PFPCA on Vimeo.

Surreal, fantastic, hideous and humorous but rarely boring

The once, hailed art star, Connelly is now known more as a character and cautionary tale than the actual living artist he still is.

From The Warhol Museum website

Chuck Connelly: Homo, 1979 Courtesy of the artist

"This exhibition, Chuck Connelly: My America, will mark Connelly’s first solo museum show and feature works from his beginning years in New York to the present day. Born in Pittsburgh in 1955, Connelly graduated from the Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia in 1977. In the early 1980s Connelly, based in New York City, exhibited widely and developed a highly inventive style of expressionist painting. During this period, Connelly was recognized as a key figure among the New York-based Neo-expressionist painters – alongside artists such Julian Schnabel and Jean-Michel Basquiat – and was collected by major institutions across the United States. In the late 1990s, Connelly returned to Philadelphia where he continues to live and work."

Amazingly, they say this is his first museum solo

From a 2008 blog post by David Grim

"Right from the start it was clear that Chuck Connelly was a bit unstable. He paced through the screen nervously, ranting and raving against his perceived enemies and the injustices of his life. He was shown haranguing a woman who I soon figured out was his ex-wife, and it was clear that being around Connelly must be a trial. He is the true manifestation of the artist as L'enfant terrible. He drinks incessantly, and becomes increasingly agitated until the point of violence. This isn't surprising as he is said to view himself as a Jackson Pollock-type, outside the realms of polite cultured society. Apparently he learned quite early that he would be allowed a certain amount of self-indulgence, given his profuse talent.

But evidently Connelly miscalculated the reception his act would generate. At one point he looked assured to attain the lofty ranks of art-stardom. He was represented by Annina Nosei, and courted by collectors and celebrities. He sold millions of dollars in paintings. Martin Scorcese even used him as his subject in his segment of New York Stories. According to the tale that director Jeff Stimmel spins, this tribute actually led to his downfall. After New York Stories (starring Nick Nolte as the infamously truculent artist) was released, Connelly was asked for his reaction to the film by The New York Post. He called the portrayal mundane and cliché, and made a rather unflattering comparison to Scorcese's masterpiece,Raging Bull."

But evidently Connelly miscalculated the reception his act would generate. At one point he looked assured to attain the lofty ranks of art-stardom. He was represented by Annina Nosei, and courted by collectors and celebrities. He sold millions of dollars in paintings. Martin Scorcese even used him as his subject in his segment of New York Stories. According to the tale that director Jeff Stimmel spins, this tribute actually led to his downfall. After New York Stories (starring Nick Nolte as the infamously truculent artist) was released, Connelly was asked for his reaction to the film by The New York Post. He called the portrayal mundane and cliché, and made a rather unflattering comparison to Scorcese's masterpiece,Raging Bull."

I admire his work the more I see it, especially the way he resists the clean packaging that can drive an artist's career.

Chuck Connelly: My America
September 27, 2014
January 4 , 2015

Carrie Furnace Halloween Party planned

From the Brew Gentlemen website

"On Saturday, November 1st, for one night only, The Independent and The Brew Gentlemen will restore the Carrie Furnace to its 50s and 60s era of greatness. We will be throwing a Halloween party in homage to that era’s most prolific director: Alfred Hitchcock. Together with Rivers of Steel, the non-profit steward of this beautiful historic monument, we present: Hitchcock! – A Halloween Party at the Carrie Furnace.

This little party will have all of the components of a great Hitchcock film: suspense, romance, psychological thrills, and murderously good craft beers and cocktails. DJs throughout the evening will keep you dancing the night away on our dance floor centered in an old hangar bay of the mill."

Warning - this is not a cheap event, $35 for entry plus $15 for onsite parking (free offsite parking and shuttle available) plus the cost of food from a wide range of food trucks. Even so, the experience may be more than worth it- I would be going if I could.

10/15/14 - 10/22/14 Arts and Urbanism Roundup

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh wins Gawker's ugliest accent contest (People Magazine)

Dear Jagoffs, Pittsburgh officially has the ugliest accent in America (Gawker)

The Pittsburgh Anthology: Call for proposals and submissions (Belt Magazine)

Pittsburgh singer Chris Jamison advances on "The Voice"  (NBC)

4121 Main, mixed use arts space opens in Bloomfield (Pop City)

Former churches blessed with new lives in Pittsburgh (New York Times)

Halloween Party planned for Carrie Furnace (The Brew Gentlemen)

Cleveland

The Cleveland Museum opens major Jennifer Bartlett retrospective 

Five reasons to visit Cleveland now (Fodor's Travel)

Looking back at the East Ohio Gas company explosion, 70 years later (Cleveland Scene)

Possible clash over Soldiers and Sailors monument could hold up Public Square redesign (Cleveland.com)

Rediscovering Cleveland poet, Russell Atkins  (Belt Magazine)

Ohio

Haunting Houses: Ohio's abandoned country houses- in pictures (The Guardian)

West Virginia and Appalachia

Morgantown police investigate post Baylor game riots

History professor's new book brings old "blood feud" back to life

A (yes) culinary road trip through Appalachia (Wall Street Journal)

Inaugural Appalachian Queer Film Festival to debut in Lewisburg (The Charleston Gazette)

Other Urbanism and Architecture News

These conservatives make the case or vibrant cities. Most of their friends ignore them. (Grist)

The redevelopment racket (The American)

More prefer public transit to road building (ABC News)

DC's new parents aren't fleeing to the burbs (Streetsblog)

Atlanta's MARTA transit agency ramps up transit oriented development (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

Federal Government releases map of proposed Houston/ Dallas bullet train route

Why no one drives to work in Hong Kong  (Market Urbanism)

Photo essay: L.A.'s architecture of insecurity (Los Angeles Times)

Can the homeless move into Baltimore's abandoned houses? (City Lab)

Norfolk's light rail choice: Embrace the city or follow the highway? (Greater Greater Washington)

Arcadia California: The U.S. town every Chinese millionaire wants to live in (Wall Street Journal)

Berlin wants to build a pool in the middle of the city's river (City Lab)

Uber can fill gaps in Anchorage area transit  (Alaska Dispatch News)

With farms fading and urban might rising, power shifts in Iowa (The New York Times)

Other Art and Culture News

Oldest Homo Sapiens DNA found (Cent News)

Another vandal hits Jeff Koons retrospective (Hyperallergic)

French President pledges support for Paul McCarthy's "butt plug" (Hyperallergic)

An Iranian-American artist revisits images from the 1979 revolution (Hyperallergic)

Can a biennial fix New Orleans? (The Art Newspaper)

How Rembrandt dressed his women for death (The Guardian)

No second coming or deflated, Paris "sex toy" sculpture  (AFP)

Ronald Perelman vs Larry Gagosian feud shakes the art world (New York Times)

The 50 greatest paintings in New England (Boston Globe)

"Outreach" is killing the American Orchestra (New Republic)

Famed fashion designer, Oscar de la Renta dies at 82 (New York Times)

Call for Submissions: Essays, Non-fiction, Photography for Belt Magazine's Pittsburgh Anthology

"HERE’S WHAT WE WANT: We’re looking for nonfiction contributions, but we’re open to photographic essays, comics / illustrations, and poetry. Again, if it expresses something truly Pittsburghese, we want to see it. Work running 750-3000 words is preferred. We will accept proposals until November 15 and finished stories until December 31st; any work which previously appeared elsewhere can be accepted as long as there is permission to do so. We expect to publish the anthology by Spring 2015. Contributors will get to have their friends be jealous of their Pittsburgh pride, but they will also receive free copies of the book, and, if the anthology is successful enough, a split of the proceeds.*"

Get all the details here

10/7/14 - 10/14/14 Weekly Arts and Urbanism Roundup

Pittsburgh 

Greensburg's Westmoreland Museum of Art receives Nieland Sculpture Collection 
(Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Five artist, live/work spaces planned in Braddock (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

How Kickstarter's most funded restaurant is transforming a town (Braddock) (AOL)

From Pittsburgh Winery to Brillo Box: Your guide to Pittsburgh's smaller music venues (Next Pittsburgh)

CMU professor, Mary Shaw earns highest honor in the nation for technological progress (Next Pittsburgh)

Pittsburgh's first urban gardening shop opens in Lawrenceville (Pop City)

At 10 years, City of Asylum Pittsburgh honors five exiled writers  (Pop City)


Cleveland

Brian Hoyer and the Cleveland Browns humiliate The Pittsburgh Steelers (WKYC)

Look who's living car lite in Cleveland (Green City Blue Lake)

A Weekend in Cleveland   (Essential Pittsburgh)

Waterloo Arts District celebrates new streetcape with gallery openings, concerts, new pubs (Cleveland.com)

ARTneo celebrates 30th anniversary at 78th Street Studios next Friday (Cleveland Scene(

Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, Joan Jett, Stevie Ray Vaughan, NWA top nominees for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015  (Cleveland.com)

Cleveland State University buys naming rights to new RTA bus-rapid line (Cleveland.com)

Cleaning of Allen Art Museum's ceiling at Oberlin reveals gold leaf, paintings and poetry  (WCHS TV)

Akron

Trio inspires Akron middle-schoolers to follow music (Ohio.com)

Youngstown 

A look at last week's Lawn-Con comics festival  (Digging Pitt)

Columbus

Ohio Stadium to host Buckeye Country Superfest Music Festival

Stone Brewing shuns Columbus for Richmond expansion

Other Ohio Arts and Urbanism News

Ohio casino September revenues down from August (Fox 45)

Ohio prisons will use drones as a security measure (Cleveland Scene)

West Virginia and Appalachia

Musicians explore connections between Romanian and Appalachian Folk Music  (WV Public Radio)

Ginseng Reality TV: Cultivating conservation or encouraging extinction?  (WV Public Radio)

Detroit

Adroit Detroit and the re-branding of the Rust Belt (Pop City)

A peek at Beth Olem Cemetary and the Neighborhood destroyed by a GM plant (Model D)

Winners of the 2014 Knight Arts Challenge (Model D)

Other Transit and Urbanism News

Battle of the upstarts: Houston Vs. San Francisco Bay (Joel Kotkin- Daily Beast)

Playable Cities: The city that plays together, stays together. (The Guardian - Sept, 9th)

Where the transit-accessible jobs are in Atlanta (ATL Urbanist)

The driver behind public transit's transformation in Atlanta (Government Technology)

Despite complaints, Houston is the best Texas city for transit access (Houston Chronicle)

Chamber report highlights challenges to Nashville's future growth (Nashville Biz Blog)

Madison poised for next steps to bus rapid transit system (Wisconsin State Journal)

Quote of the week: The neglected American Bus (Human Transit)

Transit-oriented development dominating in major metros (Transit Talk)

Tactical urbanism gaining momentum in San-Diego (KPBS)

Houston: Opportunity urbanism and walkability (Urbanophile)

Why big tech can't save the city (Corner Side Yard)

Diverging fortunes in Portland (New Geography)

Homebuilders offer freebies as booming U.S. markets cool (Ooops!) (Bloomberg News)

Mercedes is making a self-driving semi to change the future of shipping (Wired)

Indianapolis Airport debuts customer service robot

Stats show Indianapolis's violent trend likely to continue (WISHTV)

Ebola epidemic spreads- in pictures (The Guardian) (-warning: upsetting)

Aggressive police seize hundreds of millions of dollars from people not charged with crimes (Washington Post)

Comedy club charges per laugh with facial recognition  (BBC News)

113 year old time capsule in Boston opened (Christian Science Monitor)

Other Arts and Media News

Norway's currency goes abstract (Hyperallergic)

YouTube unveils huge new NYC video production studio (New York Times)

These Indonesian cave paintings may overturn Eurocentric art history  (Hyperallergic)

Cave Art older and more widespread than thought (National Geographic)

Treasure hunter uncovers one of the most significant Viking hoards ever found in Scotland  (Ancient Origins)

How Bureaucrats tried and failed to make TV suck (Reason)

Orlando Arts Scene: It's an urban bus trip (New Geography)

What makes art racist? (Hyperallergic)

Bonhams sets eight new records for modern and contemporary Middle Eastern artists (Art Daily)

Document dump reveals new details in Knoedler Gallery forgery case (The Art Newspaper)

Antiquities collections destroyed in Gaza conflict (The Art Newspaper)

Queens Museum calls for manual labor in the name of art. (Art News)

Reviewing the New York Film Festival (People Magazine)

Must see museum exhibitions during Frieze London  (Art Net)

What are America's top private contemporary art museums? (Art Net)

French museums loan 300 masterworks to Louvre Abu Dhabi  (Art Newspaper)

A Look at Last Week's Lawn-Con Outdoor Comics Festival in Youngstown

From The  Youngstown State Student Newspaper, The Jambar

"Yambar’s Lawn-Con began in the artist’s own yard years ago. Now, for its fifth year anniversary, the convention resided at the B&O Station in Youngstown.

Yambar is a painter, writer, cartoonist, publisher, designer and recorder. He is best known for his comic, “Mr. Beat,” and his involvement in “The Simpsons.”

The convention offered national and indie comic creators a place to showcase their work and their talents — as well as live music, stand up comedy, portfolio reviews, local wrestling acts and a cosplay contest for all attendees."

........

"Yambar believes that Lawn-Con will continue to grow as long as the population as a whole harbors a love for creativity and, deep down, hopes to see the Bat Signal in the night sky or the USS Renegade spotted next to Hubble Space Station. "

If you attended, please share your thoughts in the comments.

Cleveland Narrowly Defeats Pittsburgh in Rust Belt Cup Bike Challenge

Almost as coveted as Lord Stanley's Cup. After 50 years- Cleveland has won something! (Actually ranked 13th in the country)

"Bike Cleveland bested Bike PGH of Pittsburgh in competition as part of the National Bike Challenge.

The National Bike Challenge is a five-month effort to get people to cycle. Nationally, more than 47,000 riders logged 23 million miles.

As a way to be inclusive to all skill levels of riders, a point system encourages more trips than miles."

Read all about the gloating.

10/1/14- 10/7/14 Weekly Arts and Urbanism Roundup

Pittsburgh

Dreaming up a new Smithfield Street (Next Pittsburgh)

Why Latin music and the Latin community is finally growing in Pittsburgh (Next Pittsburgh)

Latham Street Commons- Idea to turn underused Friendship garages into an urban food market (Next Pittsburgh)

Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum included in list of top 5 great sports museums (Travel Pulse)

Architectural historian and author giving three free talks on Pittsburgh Architecture (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Pittsburgh artists represent at Atlanta's A3C hip-hop festival (Digging Pitt)

A local spoken-word artist does his full length solo show (Pittsburgh City Paper)

Cleveland 

New principles for parking could be applied in University Circle (Green City, Blue Lake)

Insolvent East Cleveland owes over $600,000 to an insolvent traffic camera company (Cleveland Scene)

In the cracks between: A faith based start-up in Cleveland (Belt Magazine)

Boxing gyms offer a rich- if incomplete refuge- from inner city struggles (Freshwater Cleveland)

Snapology Cleveland aims to build STEM skills through play based learning (Freshwater Cleveland)

Cleveland Beer Week adds day to festivities  (Cleveland.com)

Kent, Ohio

Ground broken on Kent State University Center for Architecture and Urban Design

Cincinnati 

Relive last weekends Midpoint Music Festival through these 28 photos (Urban Cincy)

Fifth annual Asian Food Festival returns to Washington Park this Sunday (Urban Cincy)

Pennsylvania

Restoration of Villanova University's Triumph of David painting reveals many changes. (Villanova.edu) 

Corbett's DEP chief resigns amid "porngate" allegations (PA Independent)

West Virginia and Appalachia

This music has no borders: Scots-Irish music in Appalachia (WBUR Radio)

Keeping it local: Festival recognizes West Virginia filmmaking talent (The Parthenon)

WV pumpkin festival kicks off in Milton

Other Urbanism and Architecture news:

Incredible maps show how working class neighborhoods are disappearing from American cities (Houston Chronicle)

New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel sells for a staggering $1,95 Billion (CNBC)

Why can't Austin attract international tech students?  (CityLab)

Honolulu plans fully automated rail transit (Cityscope)

"Skateboard urbanism" could change park planning (Next City)

London turning some classic "phone boxes" (booths) into mobile device charging stations (Art Daily)

The NFL's other scandal: Rampant Crony Capitalism (Contra Corner)

Inside big real estate's play for San Francisco's hipster geeks (Next City)

The high cost of radium contamination in cities (Next City)

Louisville's "Broken Sidewalk" urbanism blog returns (WFPL News)

What motivates mode choices for urban residents (Human Transit)

Joel Kotkin fears conservatives against suburban sprawl (The American Conservative)

Peak Sprawl? The fringes of the New York region are shrinking (Streetsblog)

The incredible modern architecture of Havana 

Has floating architecture's moment finally arrived?  (Next City)

Historic preservation, bad for neighborhood diversity (Market Urbanism)

Other Arts Related News:

Tax court ruling seen as victory for artists (New York Times)

David Hockney: Why art has become "less" (BBC News)

NYC photo exhibition vandalized, curator attacked (Hyperallergic)

Has Gaudi's Sagrada Familia grown out of touch? (Hyperallergic)

Artist's diaries since 1865 (Hyperallergic)

Campaign in Britain saves Wedgewood pottery collection (Artdaily)

Smartphone photography evolves (Boston Globe)

Top DJ's out-earn some Hollywood stars (MyFoxNY)

The colorful world of Hong Kong's protest art (Washington Post)

Dallas Museum of Art and University of Texas at Dallas partner to form new art history institute (ArtDaily)

Cleveland Based Photographer Exhibits Shots of "Jews Who Rock" in Davenport, Iowa

From The Quad City Times

"Macoska has worked professionally as a photographer, primarily of rock musicians passing through Cleveland, since 1974.

Currently the house photographer for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, she has also shot the cover art for albums by David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Devo, Heart, AC/DC and The Kinks."

Who would be better positioned to photograph the stars of rock?

"The more she researched, Macoska discovered that Jewish influences went beyond musicians such as Neil Diamond, Gene Simmons and Billy Joel and into those behind the scenes, such as Beatles manager Brian Epstein; Sid Bernstein, the producer who brought the Fab Four to America; and legendary concert promoter Bill Graham.

"I kind of knew there were Jewish influences in rock 'n' roll, I just never knew that there were influences beyond musicians," she said, adding that the two Cleveland DJs who coined the phrase "rock 'n' roll" in 1952 and staged the first rock concert were both Jewish."

This sounds like a cool show and I hope she thinks of bringing it to Cleveland.

"Jews Who Rock"
Photos by Janet Macoska
September 10- December 10
River Music Experience
 2nd Floor Gallery
129 Main Street,
Davenport, Iowa

http://www.janetmacoska.com/

Pittsburgh Artists Represent @ Atlanta's A3C Hip Hop Cultural Festival

In my short visit to Atlanta, last year It seemed to be open, inclusive and moving in a good direction. Creative but not uptight,

The AC3 Festival shows that.

"A3C (all 3 coasts) festival is the preeminent hip-hop festival in the US. Founded in 2005, A3C has grown from a regional showcase to an internationally celebrated cultural experience including music, education, art, film, style, pro-audio and more."

Pittsburgh's "delegation"

The Come Up Boys
Beedie Ground Up
Goldsmith (Formerly Crystal Seth)
Palermo Stone
Macon Hamilton
Masspike Miles

Friendship's Octopus Garden Grows, Becomes More Awesome

I walk by this place pretty frequently but didn't notice how the garden had expanded in the back with more sculptures, details and creatively designed furniture.

The creator of the mosaic sculptures is local artist, Laura Jean McLaughlin. I don't know who designed the garden furniture.

9/24- 10/1 2014 Weekly Arts and Urbanism Roundup

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh hires a bicycle director with a wealth of metro experience (Bike Pittsburgh)

Watch: A Wilkinsburg artist makes prints the old fashioned way (WESA Pittsburgh)

Google's presence in Pittsburgh and it's impact on local startups (Essential Pittsburgh)

Pittsburgh's lost steamboat exhibit @ The Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh City Paper)

Sharon, Pennsylvania

Sharon's third and final Waterfire festival this year draws thousands (The Sharon Herald)


Cleveland 

Is Northeast Ohio hurt by too much parking (and what can it do about it)? (Green City, Blue Lake)

Colorblind and rising. What's behind the success of Cleveland's Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School?  (Belt Magazine)

Debut NEOcycle Festival to bring cycling, fee concerts and lifestyle hub to Cleveland's Edgewater Park.

Akron

Rubber City Invasion| Huffington Post asks: Is Akron the Liverpool of the Midwest?  (ABC 5 TV)

Youngstown 

The Butler brings art to fill void in school (Vindy.com )

Legendary/ notorious former congressman, Jim Traficant, Jr. dies (Vindy.com)

Columbus

The Wexner shows masterpieces from the Leslie Wexner Collection including works by Picasso, Degas, Dubuffet , Giacometti, de Kooning and others

Cincinnati 

The 13th Mid-Point Music Festival in Cincinnati's Over The Rhine

Explore the Midpoint Music Festival

Detroit 

Dlectricity Nightime Festival of Art and Light comes back to Midtown.

Pennsylvania 

PA senate approves medical marijuana; future in the house uncertain (Pennsylvania Independent)

West Virginia and Appalachia 

General Braddock's road through the wilderness (Appalachian History)

Bon Appetit Appalachia gastro tourism site launches, highlighting local food festivals, restaurants, breweries and farms

Welcome to Appalachia- home of the original locavores (Takepart,com)

Could Appalachia become as famous for food as Tuscany or Provence? (Burg Entertainment Guide)

Other Urbanism News

Student attendance at college sports events drops dramatically

Thoughts on my neighborhood, post Ferguson (Urbanophile)

Building connectivity in suburbia  (Smart Growth for Conservatives)

Placemakers want to make sure they're heard at Habitat III conference (Next City)

Maryland suburbs embrace a new urbanism (Sacramento Bee)

Students paying extra for business skills they say they haven't learned on campus (The Hechinger Report)

Florida tries bike lanes on highway bridges (Streetsblog)

German court lifts ban on Uber ride service. (The New York Times)

What a park's design does to your brain (Next City)

Seattle to start fining people for wasting food  (Triple Pundit)

Italy to calculate cocaine sales as part of GDP

Restaurants offering incentives to diners who turn off electronic devices. (CBS New York)

Google and Microsoft are putting Rio's favelas on the map (The Atlantic/ Citylab)

For bee-friendly parks, head for the great unmown  (The Atlantic/ Citylab)

Bruges will cut traffic with an underground beer pipeline (Wired)

New law handcuffs restaurants in France (Reason)

NYPD captain and lieutenant arrested for drunk driving two hours apart (NY Post)

Art News

The International Center of Photography plans to leave Midtown Manhattan for The Bowery (The New York Times)

Satellite imagery shows extensive damage to Syria's world heritage sites. (Archaeology Magazine)

Emperor Augustus frescoes restored in Rome (Archaeology Magazine)

Pennsylvania's Longwood Gardens spending $90 million to update fountains. (The Art Newspaper)

Turner Prize show dominated by film and video art (BBC News)

EU mulls cadmium pigment ban.  (Hyperallergic)

Everyone love illustration art, but where does one see it?  (Huffington Post)

"Free art Fridays", a treasure hunt powered by instagram takes off in NYC (Artnet)

Is Norway an artist book paradise? (Hyperallergic)

A new documentary for forger who infiltrated America's art museums. (Hyperallergic)

Christies adds another 2% commission to sales that go over high sales estimate. (The Art Newspaper)

Massive Roman coin hoard unearthed in England (Archaeology Magazine)