Mar 2-9, 2016
A Wild Rumpus: DANCEFIX Connects Community and Manifests Joy through High-Energy Movement and Neighborhood Outreach
Art: Diane Teramana Film Screening at Wave Pool
New York-based video artist Diane Teramana will screen a few of her videos created in the early ’90s as a response to the controversy over the Robert Mapplethorpe obscenity trial. Teramana videotaped the opening of The Perfect Moment in Cincinnati and made a subsequent film documenting “current nation artists who don’t mind letting it ‘all…
Event: Meowsquerade Ball
This animal-themed fiesta is the annual fundraiser for the Tristate Noah Project, a no-kill rescue with the ultimate goal of becoming the first free-roaming sanctuary in the Tristate for farm and domestic animals. Become your favorite animal with the help of resident face painters, and preserve the moment in a masquerade-themed photo booth. Locally based…
Music: Heaven’s Jail
Brooklyn, N.Y. trio-turned-quartet Heaven’s Jail’s forthcoming album, Widow’s Work (due for release May 6), will most certainly follow the path of its predecessor, 2014’s Ace Called Zero, in terms of its widespread critical praise. The band’s sound isn’t especially innovative, but it is incredibly well-constructed and melodic Rock & Roll. Even at its most rockin’,…
Event: Taste of India
You can have a dose of Indian culture and eat it, too, with free samples of Indian dishes and performances at the 19th-annual Taste of India presented by the Association for India’s Development. In addition to mouthwatering Indian food, the celebration includes a display of Rangoli art, henna tattoos and colorful Indian clothing, jewelry and…
Sports: Cincinnati Rollergirls 2016 Home Opener
In the first game of its 10th-anniversary season, the Cincinnati Rollergirls face off in a double-header against Rochester, N.Y.’s Roc City Roller Derby. Get hyped before the game — tailgating is encouraged — grab a $1 beer during happy hour and cheer on the team at the historic Cincinnati Gardens. All season long, home games feature CRG’s…
Event: Saint Patrick’s Day Celebration on Fountain Square
Join Cincinnati’s Irish (and non-Irish) brethren on the Square for a Saint Patrick’s Day celebration. The all-day party features live Celtic Rock from the likes of The Kells and Fintan, Guinness on tap and themed merchandise for those who forget to wear green. Have a beer and practice your Irish step on the Square. 10…
Event: Saint Patrick’s Day Parade
Remember to wear green or you’ll get pinched at the 50th annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. Smale Riverfront Park might be the prime viewing location to see the parade this year as it follows a new route along the river from Paul Brown Stadium to Freedom Way and Rosa Parks Street. Rain or shine, the…
Event: The Mini Microcinema
Last year, the Mini Microcinema demonstrated that many Cincinnatians crave opportunities to take film seriously as an art form and communications medium — and now it’s back for a return engagement. C. Jacqueline Wood opens the 2016 iteration of The Mini at The Carnegie in Covington, with a screening of Roger Beebe’s multiple-projector work and…
Event: Canstruction
See the Cincinnati Chapters of the American Institute of Architects and Society for Design Administration’s entries for Canstruction, the international design and building competition. Local teams race to build sculptures created entirely from packaged food, all of which will be donated to Freestore Foodbank after the competition. With family-friendly guided treks to the sculptures on…
Onstage: To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee passed away last month, but her Pulitzer Prize-winning story of justice and racial inequality lives on, not only as a novel and its memorable cinematic rendition, but also in Christopher Sergel’s theatrical adaptation. Eric Ting, a new associate artist at the Cincinnati Playhouse, has given a more timeless rendition to the story of…
Yas, Queens
As drag culture continues to enter the mainstream — thanks in part to RuPaul’s Drag Race (9 p.m. Mondays, Logo) — its influence can be seen all around. From the way we talk (“fierce,” “Yas, queen!”) to women’s makeup trends (hello, contouring) to the popular Jimmy Fallon segment-turned-Spike show Lip Sync Battle, many aspects of…
How ‘After the Moment’ Became a Success
After the Moment: Reflections on Robert Mapplethorpe at the Contemporary Arts Center has been instructional for showing us what the public wants in terms of Mapplethorpe remembrance. The audience, it turned out, wanted some history of what happened in Cincinnati in 1990, when the CAC’s presentation of The Perfect Moment, the Mapplethorpe retrospective, caused the…
A Neat Life
H e named his Tumblr site Things Organized Neatly, but that doesn’t mean curator Austin Radcliffe could lay out what was going to follow over the next six years. It wasn’t long before the photography blog opened doors for Radcliffe, then a student at Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis. Online and traditional…
Worst Week Ever! March 2-8
Humor and the Word "Poop" Used to Report on Rampant Fraud and Neglect in MSD One day you’re thinking how progressive and hip Cincinnati has become and the next you’re wondering why it says “poop” in the Enquirer. Hopefully, in response to a story titled “City, county bicker over poop trucks,” the local political elite…
Eating Right
F or many Cincinnatians stranded in the city’s food deserts, corner stores — with their standard variety of processed, sugary foods — often become the default grocers. Now, a local nonprofit group is trying small steps to bridge the divide between the grocery store haves and have-nots by putting healthier food options in these neighborhood…
Music: Experience Hendrix Tour
For a living, breathing testament to the wide-ranging influence guitar innovator Jimi Hendrix had (and continues to have) on contemporary music, one need only glance at the lineup for this year’s Experience Hendrix tour, an annual traveling tribute to the Rock legend featuring current artists performing Hendrix’s music. His unparalleled guitar approach has touched musicians…
Sound Advice: Experience Hendrix Tour
For a living, breathing testament to the wide-ranging influence guitar innovator Jimi Hendrix had (and continues to have) on contemporary music, one need only glance at the lineup for this year’s Experience Hendrix tour, an annual traveling tribute to the Rock legend featuring current artists performing Hendrix’s music. His unparalleled guitar approach has touched musicians…
Music: We Banjo 3
There are so many odd signifiers and dichotomies in the composition of We Banjo 3 that it’s worth identifying as many as possible. Let’s start with the group’s titular and misdirecting “3.” There are actually four members of WB3, two sets of Irish brothers, and only two banjos, played by Enda Scahill and Martin Howley…
Sound Advice: We Banjo 3
There are so many odd signifiers and dichotomies in the composition of We Banjo 3 that it’s worth identifying as many as possible. Let’s start with the group’s titular and misdirecting “3.” There are actually four members of WB3, two sets of Irish brothers, and only two banjos, played by Enda Scahill and Martin Howley…
Music: Dressy Bessy
In the time since Dressy Bessy was a consistently active band, MySpace has gone from a top online community site to virtual haunted house. Because of social media’s seismic shift, Tammy Ealom knows there’s work ahead in getting the word out on Dressy Bessy’s new album, Kingsized, the sugary Pop band’s triumphant sixth studio effort,…
Sound Advice: Dressy Bessy with Serenity Fisher and the Cardboard Hearts and The Invisible Strings
In the time since Dressy Bessy was a consistently active band, MySpace has gone from a top online community site to virtual haunted house. Because of social media’s seismic shift, Tammy Ealom knows there’s work ahead in getting the word out on Dressy Bessy’s new album, Kingsized, the sugary Pop band’s triumphant sixth studio effort,…
Music: John 5
Guitarist John 5 has an impossibly extensive and diverse résumé, from David Lee Roth’s DLR Band, when he was just plain John Lowery, and Marilyn Manson, who gave him his numerical surname, to k.d. lang, who hired him as touring guitarist, and his current role as Rob Zombie’s shredder of choice. That last position has…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning, Cincinnati! Here are your morning headlines. A new poll found the majority of Hamilton County voters say they would vote against an increase in sales tax to extend the city's bus service. Well, that is, until they were told what extended bus service would actually look like. Most people were cool with it…
Sound Advice: John 5 and the Creatures with Static Tension
Guitarist John 5 has an impossibly extensive and diverse résumé, from David Lee Roth’s DLR Band, when he was just plain John Lowery, and Marilyn Manson, who gave him his numerical surname, to k.d. lang, who hired him as touring guitarist, and his current role as Rob Zombie’s shredder of choice. That last position has…
Rumpke Mountain Boys Play Bogart’s Fest
This Friday, a handful of Greater Cincinnati’s finest Roots musicians join forces for the Winter Folk & Bluegrass Festival at Bogart’s (2621 Vine St., Corryville, bogarts.com). The all-ages 8 p.m. concert is headlined by Rumpke Mountain Boys (who recently scored another Cincinnati Entertainment Award in the Bluegrass category) and The Tillers, with special guests Honey…
Music: Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes
S outhside Johnny Lyon is part of Jersey Shore’s Holy Trinity, along with Bruce Springsteen and Steve (“Little Steven”) Van Zandt. Starting in the early 1970s, the three friends started playing in New Jersey-based bands, either with each other or staying in close touch. And as each has grown older and found significant international success…
Soul and Inspiration
S outhside Johnny Lyon is part of Jersey Shore’s Holy Trinity, along with Bruce Springsteen and Steve (“Little Steven”) Van Zandt. Starting in the early 1970s, the three friends started playing in New Jersey-based bands, either with each other or staying in close touch. And as each has grown older and found significant international success…
Sights Set on Portman’s Senate Seat
Putting aside the presidential contest, it’s hard to imagine a bigger race in 2016 than the scramble for the Ohio Senate seat currently held by Republican Rob Portman. With 24 of the 34 Senate seats up for grabs occupied by Republicans, and with Democrats hungry to take back a majority in the legislature’s more prestigious…
Hanging On
Securing the 2016 GOP presidential nomination has always seemed unlikely for Ohio Gov. John Kasich. But even as the trail becomes ever-thinner, with frontrunner Donald Trump’s unexpected dominance and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz running an ever-closer second place, Kasich is clinging on, at least until voting comes home to Ohio. Kasich struggled to stand out…
Fighting Bern Out
Their candidate lost seven of 11 states in last week’s Super Tuesday voting and fell further behind Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the delegate count, but top advisers to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sounded as if they’d just won the jackpot. “I think it’s fair to say, last night we had a fantastic night,” campaign manager…
Kanye Mocks Deadmau5
HOT: Kanye Mocks Deadmau5 A lesser-known attribute of Kanye West’s is his sense of humor. When Electronic star Deadmau5 called West a “dick” on Twitter after West posted a screenshot that appeared to show he was using a music-pirating website, West hit back with a series of funny tweets asking if Deadmau5 would perform at…
The New Dinner-and-a-Movie Night
G oing to the movies is not what it used to be. What was once a fun and relatively affordable night out in comfortable surroundings has become a much bigger ordeal. Rising prices, chattering guests and texting teens are making more and more people consider home-entertainment options like Netflix and Hulu. Eastgate Brew & View…
What Happened to the Legacy of Nina Simone?
Recently, in the midst of driving around, my iTunes shuffle landed on the track “Down So Low” from Chocolate Genius, Inc.’s Black Yankee Rock, with its glorious reimaging of the Confederate flag in red, black and green. The downbeat lyrics kicked right in, and I found myself in a Nina Simone state of mind. If…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all. Happy International Women’s Day! Here are some links to info about rad pioneering ladies you should probably know about if you don’t already. Anyway, here’s the news today. Is Mayor John Cranley stacking the deck in the local Democratic Party ahead of 2017 in hopes of gaining the party’s endorsement for his reelection…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning all. I hope your weekend was grand. Mine involved an Elvis impersonator, sneaking onto an iconic roof with an insane view of downtown and brunch at the Comet. Not all at the same time, of course. Pretty good, though. Anyway, here’s the important stuff you need to know today. A man who filmed…
Exercises in Civics and Desperation
Critic's Picks Fringe shows have a way of sneaking up on you with profound messages when you least expect them. That’s exactly what happens with Beertown, currently onstage at Know Theatre. In fact, this touring project comes to Know’s mainstage from dog & pony dc, a company that’s appeared at Cincinnati Fringe Festivals twice in…
Stage Door
Take your pick from four wildly different shows on Cincinnati stages this weekend. For something completely different, check out Beertown at Know Theatre (through March 19). It’s a national touring project by dog & pony dc, a company that was here for several recent Cincinnati Fringes. The show is set in an imagined American town…
Your Weekend To Do List
FRIDAY EVENT: BOCKFEST Forget Punxsutawney Phil. There’s only one sure way to foretell the coming of spring, and that’s Bockfest, Cincinnati’s annual celebration of bock beer and the city’s brewing history. The festival returns this weekend for its 24th year, officially commencing with the Bockfest Parade. Traditionally led by the reigning Sausage Queen (plus some…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all. It’s never a good news day when you start out a morning news update with the phrase “vocal white nationalist and Cincinnati resident…” but here we are. Vocal white nationalist and Cincinnati resident Matthew Heimbach has identified himself as one of the participants in a heated altercation at a recent rally for GOP…
Pop Empire Debuts New Track, “Pysche”
Pop Empire first came together in 2009 as a duo. The group featured Henry Wilson, an audio engineer who worked on video sessions — like the cool one-shot live music video series, The Emery Sessions — with his father, renowned photographer Michael Wilson, and he has also done production and mastering work with Cincinnati acts…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning! Here are the headlines today. The Ohio primary is less than two weeks away. Are you ready for it? Because it looks like Hamilton County isn't. The Hamilton County Board of Elections is looking for 300 extra poll workers for the election on March 15. This primary is expected to draw in a…
REVIEW: Jims – ‘Mandarin’ EP
An EP can be a risky endeavor for any musician. The shorter run time leaves little room for a filler track; the artist has to make their impression and showcase their style in the span of time it takes for some full-lengths to start stretching their legs. Of course, crafting a journey for the listener…
Zootopia
In this urban jungle, where animals rule, a sly fox of a con artist named Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) must team up with Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), an eager by-the-books rookie bunny cop, to unravel a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top of the food chain. From start to finish,…
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Tina Fey seems to bring a calculated irreverence to Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the story of journalist Kim Barker’s experiences covering the wars in the Middle East, based on the book The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She brings trademark wit, which is smart but not too arch, and will likely play nicely…
London Has Fallen
Iranian filmmaker Babak Najafi has already made a name for himself stepping in for the second installment of the international urban thriller series Easy Money, so it shouldn’t surprise those in the know that he jumped at the chance to enter the Hollywood action ring with London Has Fallen, taking over for Antoine Fuqua, who…
Heart of a Dog
There are art films, and then there are true labors of love, and Heart of a Dog falls in to the latter category. Celebrated multimedia artist Laurie Anderson sets her sights on her relationship with Lolabelle, her terrier. Ingeniously mixing animation and live action, Anderson creates a dreamscape that dances between memory, fantasy and surreal…
Odd Newsmakers and Provocative Speech
Two odd newsmakers are testing our tolerance for provocative speech. Melissa Click, the clueless assistant professor of communications at the University of Missouri (Mizzou), went too far when she called for immediate violence against student reporters.Pete Santilli, the Ohio-based YouTube talk show host, may have overstepped the journalist’s role when he supported the militants’ occupation of…
Slice of Cincinnati: My Dad’s Place
Located in the heart of St. Bernard, My Dad’s Place has everything customers expect from a small town diner — crinkle cut fries, thick and juicy burgers, double decker sandwiches, homemade soups, fluffy pancakes and breakfast all day — on the cheap. My Dad’s Place started because, well, owner Dave Roll’s father owns the building…
Dance: Wohali
“Wohali,” the newest work by Exhale Dance Tribe’s artistic directors Missy Lay Zimmer and Andrew Hubbard, is also a Cherokee word for eagle, and the culmination so far of the pair’s ongoing collaboration with New Zealand’s Okareka Dance Company. It’s also what the two have named their program Saturday at the Aronoff Center. Wohali is…
Onstage: American Idiot
The show is not easy to watch: American Idiot takes a hard, cynical look at jaded youth who struggle with the expectations of the American Dream and come to epitomize a generation that failed to launch. By the story’s end, Johnny, Will and Tunny have moved on with their lives — getting beyond dreams and…
Urban Grocer to Open Next to Findlay Market
Findlay Market’s Fresh Table owners Meredith Trombly and Louis Snowden met at a grocery store. And that meeting is about to come full circle as they look forward to opening an urban grocer, The Epicurean Mercantile Company, with business partner Dan Jensen later this year. There’s a significant build-out ahead on the space, which is…
Hyde Park Hype
Google E+O Kitchen and you’ll get 99 posts, but a bad review ain’t one. Seriously. Upon opening its doors in November, everyone and their mother has been saying run, don’t walk, to E+O Kitchen in Hyde Park. I had initially been swept up in the hysteria, and I made a point to try it with…
It All Falls Down
In the treacherous, calculated world of House of Cards (Season Premiere, Netflix, Friday), Frank and Claire Underwood could always depend on one another. They were the ultimate power couple, until she began to feel powerless without him — or perhaps because of him. We last saw the two part ways in the White House, with…
How Big Is Gerard Butler?
It’s a legitimate question to ask as we prepare to enter the second consecutive weekend of major mainstream releases featuring the Scotsman. Gerard Butler longs to prove that he’s one of the action greats, maybe the great of his generation. Of course, he lacks the full-on assaultive appeal of his closest contemporary, Jason Statham, who…
The Observatory Wows Generations of Visitors
To the naked eye, there are not very many stars visible in the Cincinnati night sky. However, a look through one of Cincinnati Observatory’s telescopes on a clear evening makes it possible to catch a glimpse of the galaxy. It’s no wonder that the observatory’s assistant director and outreach astronomer Dean Regas says the most…
New Plays in Louisville
For 40 years, Actors Theatre of Louisville has presented the Humana Festival of New American Plays, attracting theatergoers, artists and industry professionals from across America and the world for productions of excellent new works. It has introduced nearly 450 plays, including three Pulitzer Prize winners: D.L. Coburn’s The Gin Game, Beth Henley’s Crimes of the…
The Times of Their Lives
B illie Joe Armstrong is the lead singer of the Punk band Green Day. He’s also the co-writer of the script for a musical based on their 2004 Rock opera album American Idiot, which ran on Broadway for 422 performances in 2010 and 2011. Early this year, Armstrong heard the news that a school board…
Only the Beginning: Cincy Shakes 2016-2017 Season
Perhaps by now you’ve heard that Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is building itself a new home at 12th and Elm streets in Over-the-Rhine. (Construction is already under way.) But before the move, there’s one last season of theater to be produced at 719 Race St., Downtown, the space where the group has performed since the late…
Morning News and Stuff
Two Cincinnati police officers accused of covering up a fellow officer’s auto accident while he was allegedly under the influence appeared in Hamilton County court yesterday. You can see the original CityBeat story here, but the main points: In March 2015, Sgt. Andrew Mitchell crashed his car along West McMicken Street while he was off-duty.…
A Wild Rumpus
Walking into a DANCEFIX class at the Cincinnati Ballet center on a Saturday morning is a bit like walking into a mid-summer tent revival. The air is humid and slightly salty from the evaporated sweat of a previous workout; little kids in pink leotards buzz around the lobby while parents try to catch them and…
Cost of Care
T he last few years have been turbulent for the Cincinnati Veterans Affairs Medical Center and others across the country, and a recent investigation into scandals at Cincinnati’s branch has led to the investigation of two top local officials. Dr. Barbara Temeck, the Cincinnati clinic’s acting chief of staff, and Jack Hetrick, the director of…
Worst Week Ever! Feb. 24-March 1
Attempt to Discuss Social Issues in the Workplace Goes Predictably Wrong Facebook is a marketing agency that allows participants to scroll through others’ best attempts to make their lives look rad in exchange for enrolling in state-sponsored surveillance. Without it, millions would have to find another way to be bombarded with ads for cat beds…
Bad Negro
I made it all the way through high school and some college without ever reading Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, and not because it wasn’t assigned. Oh, it was assigned plenty of times. How could it not be when the first two years of college is simply a repeat of the last two years…
Music: Pujol
D aniel Pujol is a restless, uncommonly curious guy. The rural Tennessee native who now calls Nashville home has immersed himself in a whirlwind of activity since debuting his slanted Rock & Roll outfit Pujol in 2010, writing, recording and touring at a pace foreign to all but the most committed of DIY obsessives. Pujol…
Music: Pet Sun
If you’ve noticed a fierce glow on the northern horizon recently, it’s not the atmospheric shimmer from the aurora borealis. That flickering sky light is the incendiary firestorm emanating from Pet Sun, a Hamilton, Ontario quartet with a penchant for Garage riffs, Pop melodicism and Stoner Rock rumble, all played through amps with volume knobs…
Sound Advice: Pet Sun with Leggy and The Harlequins
If you’ve noticed a fierce glow on the northern horizon recently, it’s not the atmospheric shimmer from the aurora borealis. That flickering sky light is the incendiary firestorm emanating from Pet Sun, a Hamilton, Ontario quartet with a penchant for Garage riffs, Pop melodicism and Stoner Rock rumble, all played through amps with volume knobs…
Iggy Strips Down for Art
HOT: Iggy Strips Down for Art Students at the New York Academy of Art got a cool special-guest nude model to draw recently. Though it would probably be more newsworthy if he did something fully clothed, Rock legend Iggy Pop posed fully nude for the class, and the resultant art will be part of an…
Music: Logic
In the Rap world, and perhaps even the real world, Logic defies logic. The young, biracial spitter, born Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, was raised in Gaithersburg, Md., surrounded, as he has recounted in interviews, by poverty, drugs and violence. In his youth he describes himself as “a pretty big pothead,” but he says he’s…
Sound Advice: Logic with Dizzy Wright
In the Rap world, and perhaps even the real world, Logic defies logic. The young, biracial spitter, born Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, was raised in Gaithersburg, Md., surrounded, as he has recounted in interviews, by poverty, drugs and violence. In his youth he describes himself as “a pretty big pothead,” but he says he’s…
Music: Rickie Lee Jones
Congratulations to those of you who rushed out to buy tickets for Saturday’s “An Intimate Evening with Rickie Lee Jones” concert at Live! at Ludlow Garage, because the show is officially sold out. It’s been a long time since Jones has played in Cincinnati, and she could have chosen a much larger venue rather than…
Sound Advice: Rickie Lee Jones
Congratulations to those of you who rushed out to buy tickets for Saturday’s “An Intimate Evening with Rickie Lee Jones” concert at Live! at Ludlow Garage, because the show is officially sold out. It’s been a long time since Jones has played in Cincinnati, and she could have chosen a much larger venue rather than…
Exhale Premiere Inspired by Tribal Influences
“Wohali,” the newest work by Exhale Dance Tribe’s artistic directors Missy Lay Zimmer and Andrew Hubbard, is also a Cherokee word for eagle, and the culmination so far of the pair’s ongoing collaboration with New Zealand’s Okareka Dance Company. It’s also what the two have named their program Saturday at the Aronoff Center. Wohali is…
