City Council officially repealed Cincinnati’s nine-year pit bull ban last week, removing all breed-specific language from the city’s municipal code.   

Once upon a time there was a bar on Second Street in Cincinnati called Flanagan’s Landing. There were 10 owners, none of whom were Irish, none of whom therefore were kin to me. But they longed to have an “Irish” bar because they were trying to compete with places like Caddy’s. Who could blame them? It made good business sense.  

Most Americans don’t spend a lot of time thinking about places outside of our country, so it would be normal for many to respond to news of Copenhagen, Denmark’s ranking as the happiest city in the world with something along the lines of “Who cares? Fuck Denmark.”  

Anyone who frequents the downtown business district knows that certain local celebrations guarantee a less-than-diverse collection of visitors to our fair city (try yelling “Go back to Mason!” to random people at Opening Day, Taste of Cincinnati or Oktoberfest and you’ll be surprised at how many people think you know them).  

After blessing a Vatican MySpace site that featured a list of apparently Pope-endorsed songs that included ones by 2Pac and Fleet Foxes, the Vatican newspaper/Web site The Holy See recently released another list of “good/Godly” Pop songs.  

Be forewarned, all ye who dare to enter: It's time for me to play the role of that crotchety old bastard, Scrooge, in service of finding the truth and reclaiming a good time. For instance, available evidence indicates early Christians didn't celebrate Jesus' birth and Christmas itself was an attempt by the Roman Empire to pacify and convert the pagan nations they had conquered, which were brimming with populations that enjoyed holding raucous parties during the long, dark and depressing nights of winter.  

On Easter I attended a family dinner at which my ex-wife served roast leg of lamb. Thoughts of my friend Greg's words from Friday were in my head — that there's proof Jesus had lived. What would Jesus think of me eating a lamb? I started to feel guilty. But I hope that Jesus did live. If it's true, I'm sure he was a good person and someone I would have wanted to hang out with.  

The Carnegie in Covington has spent several years in search of the best way to present musicals on the small, tight stage in its renovated Otto M. Budig Theatre. With this month’s minimally staged but aggressively choreographed production of Jesus Christ Superstar the formula now seems evident: Put the energy into the performance, keep the production simple and let the passion do the dazzling.