May 3-10, 2017
Bike Month! Red Bikes, beer rides, suburban trails and two-wheeled shopping
Morning News: Prominent faith leader thrown in jail over code issues; streetcar ridership up in April; Liberty and Elm opponents propose agreement as Council vote nears
Good morning all. Lots of stuff has happened in the past 24 hours. Let’s get to it. A well-known neighborhood activist and faith leader, Rev. Peterson Mingo, was arrested briefly yesterday after an ongoing issue with city code compliance involving a retaining wall at a property he owns in Evanston. Mingo was arrested following an…
Minimum Gauge: Former President brags about working in the studio with Chance (the Rapper) and Springsteen
HOT: Remember When Presidents Were Cool? Barack Obama recently announced plans for his “presidential library” in Chicago, and besides the Obama Presidential Center creating jobs and injecting money into the local economy, Obama also made a few special spots for his buddies to come over and jam. OK, the planned recording and film studios in…
Morning News: Liberty and Elm project nears final approval; justice center head McGuffy says demotion was retribution; Mandel, Democrats tangle over political promises
Good morning all. If you haven’t gone outside yet, just don’t. Please don’t. It is very unpleasant. Stay in the comfort of your home and read up on some news instead, OK? A major development at the gateway to northern Over-the-Rhine moved toward approval yesterday after it passed out of Cincinnati City Council’s Budget and…
To Reps. Chabot, Wenstrup and Davidson: AHCA Vote Will Follow You to the Grave
Your vote for the so-called American Health Care Act will live in infamy. The Act should be called the No-Care Act. Those who voted for it do not care about the American people, except for the wealthiest. You voted to remove health insurance from up to 24 million of your fellow citizens, not to mention…
Ubahn Fest Accepting Submissions for Performer, Vendor Consideration
Late last month, the initial performers for the 2017 edition of Ubahn festival were announced, showing the event (presented in the Riverfront Transit Center tunnels near Paul Brown Stadium) is dedicated to continuing its growth and upward trajectory in terms of booking high-level acts. Now in its sixth year, the event has also featured DJ…
Morning News: Big Walnut Hills development gets city nod; youth suicides up in Hamilton County; Whaley, Husted join governor’s race
Hello Cincy. I hope your weekend was grand. If you ran the Flying Pig, hats off to you and I hope you’re able to walk this morning. I have a friend who ran it barefoot. I, meanwhile, ran four miles on a track this weekend. With shoes on. And I’m still sore somehow. Anyway, on…
Fountain Square celebrates free concert series anniversary with more free concerts
The rebirth of Cincinnati’s central districts (downtown and Over-the-Rhine) is due to many factors, not the least of which has been the increased activities at Fountain Square, the heart of downtown, as well as the redevelopment of Washington Park in OTR (both are managed and programmed by non-profit real estate company 3CDC). Music has been…
Morning News: Cranley says higher turnout will sway general election for him; Planned Parenthood sues to avoid closure of last abortion clinic in Kentucky; Kasich blasts AHCA vote
Hello all. Here’s some news for you as we rush toward the weekend. Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley says November’s general election will be different than Tuesdays’ mayoral primary, when Councilwoman Yvette Simpson handed him a big 10-point defeat. In an interview with the Cincinnati Business Courier yesterday, Cranley pointed to low turnout in some of…
Stage Door: Storms, Tunes, Battles and Mysteries
Shakespeare’s The Tempest is the final production presented by Cincinnati Shakespeare Company at its Race Street theater. (In September it will move operations to its new theater at Elm and 12th streets in Over-the-Rhine.) The Tempest, which happens to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote, is the perfect piece to do this: It has an autumnal…
Galaxy Guarding Redux
What is a mixtape? How about this: an old-school time capsule, a pop cultural soundtrack of a moment you never want to forget? That’s what writer-director James Gunn, in his second outing at the helm of a Guardians of the Galaxy film, has provided the Marvel cinematic universe — an awesome time capsule. Sometimes the selections…
Your Weekend To Do List (May 5-7)
FRIDAY 05 EVENT: ZOO BABIES Before you ask, no: Premature baby hippo Fiona is not yet on exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo (although her caretakers say she could be as early as June). But the Queen City’s newest celebrity isn’t the only baby in town. Celebrate the zoo’s newest arrivals all month long during Zoo…
Critic’s Pick: ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ at the Aronoff
Does 1958 strike you as “So Far Away”? That’s a trick question: As soon as you hear the familiar melody of that hit song by Carole King, time melts away. Watching the touring production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical onstage at the Aronoff, you’ll quickly discover that she was a precocious 16-year-old when she began…
Over the Rhine preps for 2017’s Nowhere Else music and arts festival
This Memorial Day weekend, on rural farmland less than 50 miles east of Cincinnati, Over the Rhine’s Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist will again present their Nowhere Else Festival, a celebration of some of the pair’s “favorite musicians, writers, photographers, painters, naturalists and foodies.” Last year’s event saw OTR fans from all over the region…
Morning News: Raises for city top brass under fire as deficit looms; Ohio tax revenues fall short again in April; House set to vote on ACA repeal today
Hello Cincy. It’s kind of a nasty morning out there, so maybe just stay inside and read some news, eh? As the city faces a $25 million budget deficit in the upcoming fiscal year, should City Manager Harry Black have doled out merit raises to his top brass? That question came up in City Council’s…
What a Week! April 26-May 2
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26 Remember Clippy? The helpful/annoyingly interruptive Microsoft Office assistant and anthropomorphic paperclip re-emerged from obscurity this week when an artistic rendering of a pregnant Clippy meme made its way around the internet. Clippy creator Kevan Atteberry came forward to take credit for the character, talk about its history and ask who knocked it…
Ratings and Cheap Grace
Sean Spicer speaks for the president. So why does anyone in the news media suggest Spicer was ignorant or careless in his word choice when he compared Hitler favorably to Syria’s Assad at a press briefing? Talking about Assad’s gas attack on civilian villagers, Spicer offered these jaw-dropping alternative facts: “Someone who is as despicable…
Welcome to the Jungle
Minutes into the first episode of Jungletown (10 p.m. Tuesdays, VICELAND) — hell, seconds into the series trailer — and it’s clear by the dozens of questions I have running through my head that VICE had stumbled upon one of its most compelling stories. The docuseries centers on Kalu Yala, a tiny developing village in the…
Remembering Jonathan Demme (1944-2017)
When the news alert about the sudden passing of Jonathan Demme started trending in my social media feed last week, I quickly realized he would now forever remain an unchecked box on my coverage bucket list. There is no Demme phone interview saved in my iTunes folder. I had no storied recollection of a brush…
Louisville Public Media: NKU rejected $5 million offer for WNKU
Northern Kentucky University's board of trustees have rejected a $5 million offer from Louisville Public Media for the Middletown transmitter and105.9 FM frequency that provides WNKU programming to Greater Cincinnati and Dayton, according to a letter published at Louisville’s 91.9 WFPK website. The offer could be the final chance to keep the 32-year-old station on…
Multiple Layers Form a Smooth ‘Skin’
The beauty of A Matter of Skin, the current exhibit at Kennedy Heights Arts Center, is that it’s not skin-deep. Ostensibly all about our outer layer, the show also reveals what’s in our souls. By exploring how comfortable or uncomfortable we are in our own skin and when looking at others’ flesh, the artists and guest…
Wave Pool is redefining our contemporary art
With its new $150,000 grant from the The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, Camp Washington’s nonprofit Wave Pool gallery is set to expand its efforts to take Cincinnati art in a new direction: social-practice. Calcagno Cullen, the gallery’s director, sees the money being used to creatively support the neighborhood. “Fixing up…
Summer is here, and the time is right for thoughtful indie movies
In the movie business, summer starts in May when the first would-be blockbuster arrives — this year, it’s Friday’s opening of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. For movie geeks, that arrival leads to debates about movies that define the season versus those that define the times. Usually, we suffer through an onslaught of forgettable…
Bike Month!
May is Bike Month, which means there are plenty of two-wheeled activities happening throughout the Tristate, from themed rides and workshops to bike-in movies. Check cincybikemonth.com for updates and more information. Bike Month Contents Bike and Brews Cruise Biking Bliss in the 'Burbs Themed Red Bike Excursions Interview with Green Umbrella's Danny Korman Bike Month…
Biking Bliss in the ‘Burbs
If you worry about congestion, development, traffic and other manmade scourges, you owe yourself a bicycle ride on the Little Miami Scenic Trail. Biking in the city of Cincinnati is becoming a friendlier proposition, and the city has slowly come around in giving bicyclists a share of the road. Bike lanes have been created on…
Bike Month Calendar!
Events Crank-Up Cincy 2017 — The show celebrates bicycles and cycling culture in the Tristate by exhibiting selected posters from local artists on the walls of Coffee Emporium. On view through May 25. Free. Coffee Emporium, 110 E. Central Parkway, Downtown, facebook.com/crankupcincy. May the Fourth Be With You — Cheviot’s “Slow Ride” Bicycle Group leads riders through the…
Get Information and Get Riding
Danny Korman has long been one of the most recognizable faces of Cincinnati’s green movement. In 2007, he founded the inimitable Park + Vine green general store in Over-the-Rhine, which became a haven for environmentalists, vegetarians and cyclists alike. He’s been known to zoom his bicycle all over town in all sorts of weather —…
Two-Wheeled Tourism
Red Bike, Cincinnati’s extremely successful bike-sharing system, now has more than 440 bikes spread across 56 stations in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky — which means if you’re in/near the city, there should be a Red Bike Station near you. And for just $8, you can cruise around town on a day pass. As of April…
Bike and Brews Cruise
If you want some new views of Cincinnati, you could do worse than biking the length of Vine Street on a sunny spring day as it winds into the city’s northern-most limits. Vine was the departure point for a city-spanning bicycle quest to six local breweries my roommate John and I undertook on a recent…
Bottle & Basket & Culture
If you’ve been craving a bit of cultural enrichment during your lunch hour, look no further than the latest offering from the juggernaut that is Wellmann’s Brands: The second location of the popular Over-the-Rhine carryout Bottle & Basket recently opened in the lobby of the Contemporary Arts Center in the former Collective Espresso space. Molly…
Sound Advice: The Classic Crime with Matt & Toby (from Emery) and Civilian (May 5)
Because of their five-year affiliation with Tooth & Nail Records, The Classic Crime has typically been considered a Christian Rock band, but as frontman Matt MacDonald has rightly pointed out, religion is a highly personal issue and the members of the band are not united in their religious pursuits — which means they’re not a…
Sound Advice: Thunder Dreamer with Molly Sullivan and Carriers (May 5)
I’m not sure what kind of a music scene is currently happening in Evansville, Ind., but if Thunder Dreamer is any indication of its quality, labels should be converging on the Indiana city like hippies flocking to Woodstock. To put them in a local context, the quartet’s 2013 self-titled EP and 2014 debut full-length,Lonesome Morning,…
Sound Advice: Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett with Craig Fuller (May 6)
As individuals, guitarists Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett have notched some of the most impressive accomplishments in Rock history. Barrere joined Little Feat in 1972, three years after Lowell George assembled the band, and immediately showed his worth as a songwriter, penning Feat classics “Skin It Back,” “All That You Dream,” Time Loves a Hero”…
Heligator Spotlights Local Experimental Music
Heligator Records is a unique Cincinnati-based label, not only because of the experimental nature of the music releases, but also due to its origins and primary purpose. With its releases since its 2013 beginnings, the label has provided exposure to Drone, Ambient, Noise and other progressive types of sound artists from Cincinnati and beyond. But…
Morning News: Simpson primary victory; Tensing’s confederate flag shirt might not be evidence in retrial; Medicaid expansion fight looms in state budget
Good morning all. Here are some quick news hits for your day. Councilwoman Yvette Simpson won yesterday’s mayoral primary, besting incumbent Mayor John Cranley and knocking third-place Rob Richardson Jr. out of the race. Now Simpson and Cranley will square off in November. Here’s our full coverage. • A T-shirt worn by former University of…
The Black Angels follow their muse to a coincidental commentary on the current socio-political zeitgeist
The Black Angels are a perfect fit for our current ominous, cloud-gathering cultural moment. The Austin, Texas-bred outfit has been spreading its reverb-drenched drones for 13 years now, along the way converting a flock of passionate followers who likewise believe that The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators was Rock & Roll’s creative apex.…
Yvette Simpson wins mayoral primary
Cincinnati City Councilwoman Yvette Simpson grabbed the most votes in the city’s mayoral primary, placing her ahead of runner-up Mayor John Cranley and knocking attorney and former University of Cincinnati board chair Rob Richardson Jr. out of the race. The race between the three Democrats saw only 11 percent turnout. Simpson received 45 percent of…
Neighborhood groups are still fighting for a say in a proposed new development at Liberty and Elm
The field on the northwest corner of Liberty and Elm streets sits at the mouth of northern Over-the-Rhine, a community on the knife-edge of transition. To the south, development around Washington Park has skyrocketed over the last few years. Findlay Market, where development is just starting to take off, is a couple blocks north. Just…
