http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/ In her brand-new exhibition, Supplemental Ornament, at the Weston Art Gallery in downtown’s Aronoff Center for the Arts, Murphy-Price presents sculptures and prints that simultaneously focus and exaggerate the relationship between our internal identities and the selected accoutrements that extend our personalities into an array of surrounding decorative objects. All the work on display has been made since she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 2005. She now resides in Bloomington, Ind. Simultaneous with her show the Weston also is displaying, through Jan. 10, sculpture by Dietrich Wagner of Erie, Pa., and Pixel paintings by Cincinnati’s Jimi Jones. Tuesday-Sunday.]]> Hey, let's all celebrate L. Ron Hubbard for the holidays! If that idea makes you do a double-take, well, Know Theater is ready to prove that it's possible. With a cast of nine kids, ages 11 to 16, they're offering this show, a 2004 Off Broadway hit, for the holidays. Songs include, "Hey, It's a Happy Day!," "Mr. Auditor" and "L. Ron Hubbard," a song that debates what the L. stands for. Along the journey, famous Scientologists make cameo appearances. Through Dec. 28.]]> In her brand-new exhibition, Supplemental Ornament, at the Weston Art Gallery in downtown’s Aronoff Center for the Arts, Murphy-Price presents sculptures and prints that simultaneously focus and exaggerate the relationship between our internal identities and the selected accoutrements that extend our personalities into an array of surrounding decorative objects. All the work on display has been made since she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 2005. She now resides in Bloomington, Ind. Simultaneous with her show the Weston also is displaying, through Jan. 10, sculpture by Dietrich Wagner of Erie, Pa., and Pixel paintings by Cincinnati’s Jimi Jones. Tuesday-Sunday.]]> UC football caps a 20-year rebuilding project with a trip to the program’s biggest bowl game ever. Nobody has ever accused the University of Cincinnati of overemphasizing football - probably not even in 1885, when UC became the fifth American university to start a football team. For more than 120 years, locals wondered why the university should even bother with it.]]> For a holiday show that will delight kids and adults while teaching a lesson that’s totally palatable at the same time, it’s nice to know that Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati (ETC) is back with another musical fairytale by Joe McDonough and David Kisor. ETC has done this one before (in 1998 and 2003), but Lynn Meyers and her cast work hard to revamp each production, always finding fresh ways to bring humor, joy and a meaningful message to the stage. Through Jan. 4. $16-$38.]]> The desire for love is a fundamental urge, but perhaps as basic is the drive to remake the object of your affection. That's the funny and poignant premise of Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts' off-Broadway musical, which Cincinnati Playhouse staged it successfully in 2000; it's back for a second run in the Shelterhouse through the holidays. It's a perfect date-night show but also one for mature audiences. Tuesday-Sunday through Dec. 31.]]> Ryan McGinness' exhibition of new paintings creates an optical second reality in the Vance-Waddell Gallery at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Lights are turned off; heavy, dark curtains hang in the doorway; black lights shine onto the wood panels and bring everything painted there to life. It's a little disconcerting, looking into a painting and feeling as though you might trip into some "Alice in Wonderland" alternative universe. Tuesday-Sunday through Feb. 15, 2009.]]> The Cincinnati Museum Center’s latest Omnimax extravaganza, Grand Canyon Adventure, makes you feel like you're there. Greg MacGillivray’s documentary follows anthropologist/author Wade Davis and longtime environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr. (and each of their college-age daughters) on a trip down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. Runs daily through Feb. 12, 2009.]]> With 300,000 new LED lights twinkling in the Festival of Lights display at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical gardens this year, the zoo will save $30,000 on their Duke Energy Bill. What that means in practical terms is enough power to supply 36 homes for an entire year. And the lights are cool, too. Open nightly 5-9 p.m. (closed Dec. 24-25). Guests can enjoy half-priced admission Dec. 1-3, 8-10 and 15-17.]]> The wonderful light boxes of Matthew Shelton are on display at Northside’s NVISION (4577 Hamilton Ave.) beginning with an opening reception from 6-10 p.m. Friday featuring music by DJMCMLXXIII. Shelton’s technique for making light boxes evolved from a method that involves first incorporating photographs, then poking countless holes into mirror board. The effect is similar to tin-punch art, which can be used to make lanterns. Shelton attaches small pieces of color gels to the mirror board. When held up to a light source the effect is stunning. Tiny jewel-like rays of color shine through. Images such as the Vegetation Goddess resemble Aztec art. Some of his shapes could be mandalas or an Aztec calendar. His work will remain on display until Feb. 1, 2009. Opening reception: 7-10 p.m. Friday.]]> You’ll have to forgive Rich Vos if he seems just a little tired. Though divorced, he remains a devoted father, spending as much time as he can with his two girls. It’s not easy, as he now has a baby with second wife, comedian Bonnie MacFarlane. His job keeps him on the road quite a bit but for Vos stand-up comedy was really the only vocation open to him. He took to the stage after, as he puts it, “failing at everything else. I went up the first time and I died like an animal.” Undaunted, he pressed on. “I got back up on stage whenever I got the chance. I just kept doing it, and eventually I got a little better and little better.” Today he’s a headlining comic and was a finalist on the first and third seasons of Last Comic Standing. Rich Vos performs at Go Bananas Thursday-Sunday. $10-$15.]]> Ralph Lauren, along with every WASP-engendered, suburban-circumscribed good-taste notion of the good life, gets it in the eye in Carlton Scott Sturgill’s finely crafted and very funny show, Afterlifestyle, at the Art Academy of Cincinnati's Pearlman Gallery, 1212 Jackson St. in Over-the-Rhine, now through Dec.12. The Ralph Lauren lifestyle, so commercially viable, seems to Sturgill akin to a quiet death by boredom. Sturgill’s versions of Ralph Lauren magazine ads show the models with closed eyes – already they have succumbed. He is perhaps the first artist ever to employ paint chips for satiric ends and, in another neat turn, he recycles Ralph Lauren shirts into handsome funereal flower arrangements. Death, anyone? Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.]]> Pledge to spend $100 locally and be entered to win a prize package from local merchants Join CityBeat in helping the local economy this holiday season. Pledge to spend your shopping dollars at locally owned and operated businesses this year. With your support, we can make a difference in the economic health of our community.]]> UC’s Big East championship legitimizes Cincinnati sports fans Would a loser have awaken at 9 a.m. on a Saturday and started drinking Sparks energy beer, eating bagels and watching college football pregame shows? Would a loser have walked across the UC campus before noon drinking beer out of a to-go coffee cup.]]> With 300,000 new LED lights twinkling in the Festival of Lights display at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical gardens this year, the zoo will save $30,000 on their Duke Energy Bill. What that means in practical terms is enough power to supply 36 homes for an entire year. And the lights are cool, too. Open nightly 5-9 p.m. (closed Dec. 24-25). Guests can enjoy half-priced admission Dec. 1-3, 8-10 and 15-17.]]> If there’s any truth in the old adage that “the family that plays together stays together,” the Peytons of Indiana will be tight until the next ice age. The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band coalesced a mere three years ago, but in that time the Country/Blues trio -- Reverend Peyton on guitar, his wife Breezy on washboard, and brother Jayme on drums -- has averaged 250 shows a year in front of every conceivable kind of audience. And whether the marquee has promised an evening of Rockabilly or Punk or Country or Bluegrass or Roots Rock, the Big Damn Band has left the stage with another group of fervent members for their growing congregation. They play a show with The Tillers at The Southgate House. 8 p.m.]]> "China Design Now" is a comprehensive exhibition of hundreds of objects elaborates on the booming innovations presently taking place in the fields of design, fashion, and architecture throughout China. The exhibition is split into three sections, corresponding one of those design areas with an eastern coastal city: Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing. The exhibition continues through Jan. 11, 2009. $8 for adults; $6 for seniors/college students; $4 for children ages 6-17; free for members and children under age 6.]]> Lawsuit against Fifth Third Bank’s debit card fees could impact all customers Facing a weekend full of errands and shopping last spring, Carlton knew he had $428.98 in his checking account, which was enough to cover all he needed to accomplish - or was pretty close. On a Saturday afternoon in April, Charlton paid for five small transactions using his debit card, totaling $56.]]> After three years together, Arms Exploding debuts the aptly titled Ruminari The five members of Arms Exploding are serious about making music, and it shows. The sounds emanating from Ruminari, the band’s debut album for the local Phratry label, are intense and harrowing, a melodic Post Punk/Prog cacophony of double clutch drumming, heart attack bass, delicately thrashing guitars and unhinged vocals.]]> Artists use daily blogs to hone their craft and sell their work n December 2004, Virginia-based artist Duane Keiser began making one small painting a day, posting them on his blog and selling them at very affordable prices. Over the past four years, Keiser's A Painting a Day blog (www.duanekeiser.blogspot.com) received a flurry of national media attention and.]]> Hyde Park Tavern is good for friending or dating While Hyde Park Tavern underwent new ownership last year and has a new fall menu with several wonderful gourmet options - including a great wine list - it's still very much a pub. There are the loud TVs, the loud talkers and the visceral, sports-inspired.]]> Documentary looks at the privatization of water The story centers on an evil international agency trying to privatize and control the water supply in Bolivia. Not gold, not oil, not diamonds, not plutonium - just plain old water. How'd they ever come up with that bizarre, seemingly fantastical plot line? After all, we all know water belongs to the people, just like air.]]>