I’m pretty sure that Gov. John Kasich has more important things to think about than his favorite restaurant. But it is clear that Kasich thinks that Bob Evans is pretty damned cool. During his campaign last year, it was reported that Kasich staffers had to set all Bob Evans locations into the GPS devices in campaign cars, although one staffer noted that it really wasn’t necessary since Kasich knew where they all were located anyway.    

College football season is already upon us, but what many sports fans often fail to realize is that college basketball is just around the corner. With 10 more weeks of University of Cincinnati football scheduled to overlap the school’s November basketball exhibition games, it’s safe to say that this fall is going to involve watching many, many athletic competitions.  

Smarmy, round-shouldered and sporting a haircut that makes his head look just a little asymmetrical, Ohio Gov. John Kasich cuts a striking pose in his weekly video addresses. Checking these out gets you close to the Governor’s mansion in that way that Facebook gets you close to your friends — that is to say, very and not at all.   

There’s a lot to be celebrated about Cincinnati’s varied theater scene, but one of the coolest aspects might not be immediately obvious: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s stock in trade is shows that were written four centuries ago. So how is that cool? Well, let me count the ways. Let’s consider actors, plays and outreach.  

During last weekend's event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the music theater program at UC's College-Conservatory of Music, 1993 grad Scott Coulter paid tribute to CCM's musical theater chair Aubrey Berg and remarked how important it is to go "back and back and back" to see how each of us came to be at this particular concert and this particular place and moment in time. His advice took me back to when I was 8 years old and my grandfather, Arthur Pender, took me to see the musical 'Brigadoon.'  

Starting this week you can vote for the 2009 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for theater. The CEAs, established by CityBeat in 1996, use public voting for a dozen categories and a poll of critics for the remaining eight, covering productions and technical aspects better judged by people who see a lot of theater. Five nominees are selected for 20 categories by a panel of local critics. (This year's choices were made by seven critics who write for four different media outlets: CityBeat, TalkinBroadway.com, The Hamilton Journal-News and Aeqai, an arts Web site.)  

Mahatma Gandhi famously said that we must be the change we want to see in the world. As Greater Cincinnati's leading media voice for change and progress, we've tried to live those words at CityBeat. Our world has changed a bit since this paper debuted 15 years ago, and we've played a role in changing it. The back and forth has been fascinating to observe and difficult to steer.  

Here's a challenge: Check out CityBeat's Swizzle Guide this week (a rundown of more than 200 great local spots) and think about how many of your life's moments are associated with a bar. Me? My wedding reception was in a bar, spilling out onto the decks on a beautiful September afternoon. And I just got back from New Orleans and spent some quality time at Pat O'Brien's, a place I associate with wonderful Mardi Gras trips throughout the years.   

CityBeat says 'goodbye' and 'good luck' to a longtime department head, Art Director Sean Hughes. He joined the paper just a few months after our founding in 1994, fresh out of grad school, and quickly took control of the paper's design and production flow. It's not a stretch to say that his calm demeanor in the center of the weekly hurricane blown up by editorial and ad sales was the rock on which CityBeat was built.