For creating and sustaining Cincinnati Young People's Theatre Festival for nearly 30 years, for keeping the Showboat Majestic afloat (literally and artistically) and for turning a deteriorating West Side movie theater into a popular performing arts venue, the Covedale Center for the Performing Arts, Jennifer and Tim Perrino and Denny Reed were honored by the League of Cincinnati Theatres with the 2009 "Continuing Achievement Award." They were inducted into the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards Hall of Fame at the Below Zero Lounge event on Aug. 30.  

Bill Hartnett likes to tell stories. Ellie Shepherd, his partner (in life and frequently onstage) listens to him patiently. Sometimes she prompts him or fills in a detail. They almost always end up in hearty laughter.  

Hard to believe it's time to announce the nominees for the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for Music. As with previous years, you determine the winners of 16 public categories by voting online at citybeat.com. Voting continues through early November. Winners of the "big three" categories (Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and New Artist of the Year) are chosen by our panel of local music experts. Awards will be handed out Nov. 22 at the Madison Theater.  

One hundred people and productions were nominated for the 2009 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards in theater, which were bestowed Aug. 30 at Below Zero Lounge before a big, happy, socializing crowd. Let's say that again: 100 nominations. No single company dominated the 13th annual CEAs, as 11 different organizations received awards for work on 15 separate productions. In the big categories voted by critics, the Cincinnati Playhouse's production of the powerful 'Blackbird,' directed by Michael Evan Haney (pictured), was the year's outstanding drama. New Stage Collective's final production, the bittersweet Sondheim musical 'A Little Night Music,' was named outstanding musical.  

For creating and sustaining Cincinnati Young People's Theatre Festival for nearly 30 years, for keeping the Showboat Majestic afloat (literally and artistically) and for turning a deteriorating West Side movie theater into a popular performing arts venue, the Covedale Center for the Performing Arts, Tim and Jennifer Perrino and Denny Reed are being honored by the League of Cincinnati Theatres with the 2009 "Continuing Achievement Award." On Sunday evening at Below Zero Lounge in Over-the-Rhine, they'll be inducted into the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards Hall of Fame.  

The Cincinnati Entertainment Awards (CEAs) for theater, set to be handed out Aug. 30, led me to wonder if our theater scene compares favorably with other cities. Would this year's 100 CEA nominees compete with performers and productions elsewhere? Those are subjective judgments, to be sure, but simply counting productions of important plays we match up reasonably well.   

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.)  

Voting closed on Aug. 3 for the 13th annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards (CEAs) recognizing outstanding performances and productions from the 2008-09 theater season. The awards will be presented at Below Zero Lounge in Over-the-Rhine on Aug. 30. The event is open to the public and free, a big party (cash bar) attended by local theater performers, directors, designers and fans celebrating the work of 100 nominees. Here's an early bird alert: Several CEA-nominated actors are returning to local stages this fall.  

Hard to believe, but it's been an entire decade since local singer/songwriter Roger Klug released a new record. 'More Help for Your Nerves' is the best of the his career, with Klug back to his usual "voice" — timeless Power Pop that churns out songs so infectiously rich with hooks the CDC might think about investigating.  

Bill Monroe is widely recognized as the Father of Bluegrass, and so, in that context, perhaps we can consider Ralph Stanley as the genre's kindly Uncle ... the guy who teaches us about life and ourselves without inflicting the unflinching discipline and judgmental subjectivity of our old man. But the fact remains that the king is dead and the throne can't remain empty, the crown unworn. Perhaps it's time to coronate a new King of Bluegrass, and if so the only true heir is Dr. Ralph Stanley.