LULAC Hosts Candidates Night
Cincinnati’s branch of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) will host a candidates forum Wednesday night that include many of the people running for Cincinnati mayor, City Council and the Board of Education. The event will be held at the Su Casa Hispanic Center gym, 7036 Fairpark Ave., in Carthage. It will last…
Music: The Mars Volta
Blending the visceral impact of Punk with the majestic bombast of Prog, The Mars Volta pummeled and dazed its fans with frenetically disjointed gigs, likely a result of the band’s voracious drug appetite. The band’s 2003 debut full length, De-Loused in the Comatorium, was a concept album, a first-person narrative detailing the inner universe of…
Analyzing the Media’s Lazy Reporting on ACORN
By now you’ve heard of ACORN, the national coalition of community organizers. It has embezzlement problems, and recently a few of its counselors offered tax, immigration and housing advice for a criminal enterprise proposed by conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute. The videotaped sting should have been anticipated. Technology all but screams, “Try…
moe.
Fresh off its well-deserved induction last week into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame — where it joined the likes of Ani DiFranco, Willie Nile and the Goo Goo Dolls — moe. returns to rock your ass into the jamoe.sphere. Or thereabouts. It hardly seems possible that moe. has been plying its Zappa-by-way-of-Southern-Rock- with-a-twist-of-Dead improvisation…
More Than a Game (Review)
Co-writer/director Kristopher Belman documents the rise of King James, beginning with the fateful and mythic assembly of his first-round table in Akron, Ohio. The pre-teen LeBron James hooks up with Dru Joyce (whose father coaches their first traveling AAU basketball team), Sian Cotton and Willie McGee and forges bonds of brotherhood lacking in his own…
The Mars Volta
Eight years ago, At the Drive In vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, wary of ATDI’s growing popular success, exited the band in order to pursue a more varied musical approach. The duo’s Dub Reggae side project De Facto became their primary gig, which quickly morphed into the band that they had been envisioning…
Couples Retreat (Review)
If ever there was need for an example of the whole not adding up to the sum of its parts, then let Couples Retreat hereby stand as Exhibit A. How can you get a sub-par movie if you take the comic motor-mouth that is Vince Vaughn, pair him with his swinging buddy Jon Favreau —…
Music: moe.
Fresh off its well-deserved induction last week into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame — where it joined the likes of Ani DiFranco, Willie Nile and the Goo Goo Dolls — moe. returns to rock your ass into the jamoe.sphere. Or thereabouts. It hardly seems possible that moe. has been plying its Zappa-by-way-of-Southern-Rock- with-a-twist-of-Dead improvisation…
Paranormal Activity (Review)
Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat) have a perfectly anonymous and quite ordinary life: a condo in an upscale community, the student/financial industry professional upwardly mobile work dynamic (even during these troubling times) and the lurking questions regarding the next step in their relationship (is marriage on the horizon)? But there’s also an 800-pound…
Green Party: ‘Yes’ on Issue 9
The Southwest Ohio Green Party announced today that it supports the passage of Issue 9 in the November election. Its position is based, in part, over concerns the party has about whether Cincinnati’s proposed $102 million streetcar system is an effective economic development tool.—- In a statement released by Green Party convener Joshua Krekeler, party…
Luken, Mooney at Streetcar Debate
This month’s Price Hill Civic Club meeting, slated for Tuesday night, will feature a debate on Issue 9, the ballot item that would impose restrictions on rail-related funding by the city of Cincinnati. The neighborhood group has scheduled speakers to discuss the other issues on the Nov. 3 ballot. After their presentations, the debate will…
Lit: Jon Hartley Fox
Coming to Shake It Records at 2 p.m. is the story of a record company that reached success by recognizing talent over niche. Jon Hartley Fox, author of King of the Queen City, will be signing his new book and discussing all the talent that came through Syd Nathan’s doors at King Records. In his…
Halloween: Ghosts of the Queen City Tour
If the standard Halloween haunted house crawl is leaving you cold, it might be time to check out Cincinnati’s genuine phantoms. Cincinnati Tours offers guided bus tours of the city’s dead-but-not-yet-departed citizens. Participants are led to some of the area’s most haunted locales including Music Hall and Eden Park. The tour moves beyond the legends…
Halloween: Laser Spooktacular
The Drake Planetarium has spooked up a fun alternative to haunted houses and scary movies. Bring the whole family to check out their "Laser Spooktacular" and see the planetarium sky filled with colorful Halloween-themed images and animations, set to a monster musical soundtrack. For the adult crowd, stay a little later to treat yourself to…
Events: Masquerage
Come one, come all, to the greatest show on Earth! Well, in Dayton at least. Celebrating their 25th anniversary, the AIDS Resource Center of Ohio is hosting the 2009 edition of Masquerage. Let your freak flag fly high at this circus-themed event, complete with sword swallowers, fortune tellers, high-wire acts and much, much more. Food…
Events: Gay Bingo
If this event was a drink recipe, it would probably look something like this: take your Grandma's idea of a fun Friday night out, add two parts fierce, three parts fabulous and a dash of philanthropy. Serve martini-style and garnish with a Pink Lady sweater. This month's theme is Grease, so prepare to experience the…
Comedy: Tom Segura
Though he was born in Cincinnati, comedian Tom Segura has trouble engaging in conversations with people about The Queen City. “People will say ‘What’s your favorite part of Cincinnati?’ I’m like ‘I was nine, man. I liked recess and having snacks. I didn’t go anywhere. I was a kid.’” He currently lives in Los Angeles,…
Music: World Music Fest
As part of Covington’s Full Spectrum series, the World Music Fest is back and bigger than over. With over 40 acts and 150 performers in seven venues, this weekend promises to celebrate diverse cultures through music, dance and art. Venues include Chez Nora, Leapin Lizard, Artisans Enterprise Center and more all over Covington. Friday night’s…
St. Vincent with Andrew Bird
Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, is an accomplished singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who’s no longer in the shadows of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens, with whom she toured as a guitarist and vocalist. They did open her ears, though, shaping her jazzy approach to songwriting. “I really started getting into effects and seeing what I…
Classical: Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra
Everybody loves a good mystery, almost as much as they love Raymond, and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra is no exception. Perhaps that’s why CCO Music Director Mischa Santora has chosen to perform the “Concerto for Two Horns,” an engaging piece that has long been identified as a Franz Joseph Haydn composition but may in fact…
Onstage: Boom
The ability to predict the end of life on Earth is a mixed blessing for Jules (Joshua Murphy), a character in Boom, the new play by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb opening Know Theatre of Cincinnati’s 2009-10 season. The awkward marine biologist believes he has incontrovertible evidence because the fish he studies seem to sense an impending…
Boom (Review)
The ability to predict the end of life on Earth is a mixed blessing for Jules (Joshua Murphy), a character in Boom, the new play by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb opening Know Theatre of Cincinnati’s 2009-10 season. The awkward marine biologist believes he has incontrovertible evidence because the fish he studies seem to sense an impending…
The Avett Brothers, Roseanne Cash, Lucero and Grant Hart
There’s a chill in the air and the sheets are shiveringly cool when I climb into bed at 2 a.m., so Fall must be upon us. The big three — Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas — are lurking in the wings, and that can only mean one thing for a music journalist: What will make my…
Changing of the Guard
A familiar face in local politics has traded in one job for another. Jeff Cramerding, the longtime executive director of the Charter Committee, quietly resigned from that position on Sept. 2 to become a full-time campaign consultant. Cramerding was hired by Charter — Cincinnati’s unofficial third political party — in December 2000.—- Although not well-known…
Better Late than Never for Cyclists
If Mark Twain was right about Cincinnati being 10 years behind the times nearly a century ago, it would be safe to expect the Industrial Revolution and Internet age by now to have dropped our fair city even further behind society’s advancements. If the Oct. 8 Cincinnati Bike Plan open house at the McKie Recreation…
Friday Movie Roundup: Paranormal Release Pattern
What’s up with this supposedly scary movie called Paranormal Activity? Paramount Pictures, the film’s distributor, has been sending me e-mail press releases with big, bold-faced titles like “More Than 230,000 Fans “Demand” Paranormal Activity" and "Fans Spur the Film’s Opening in Twenty Additional Cities Across the Country” and “Paranormal Activity Sells Out Midnight Screenings Across…
Six Degrees of Joe McCarthy
If you thought the McCarthy era witch hunts were over, you are sadly mistaken. Welcome back to 1950! After TV host Glenn Beck’s attack on Van Jones resulted in Jones resigning from the Obama administration, it seems to be open season and now Fox News — the “fair and balanced” news channel with a political…
Onstage: Laramie Project: Ten Years Later
If you care about the issues surrounding Matthew Shepard's brutal murder in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998, you should make a reservation at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati (ETC) for a one-evening of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. In November 1998, 10 members of the Tectonic Theater Project, including playwright Moisés Kaufman, traveled to Laramie to…
Mummies: Secrets of the Pharoahs (Review)
The larger-than-life Omnimax format attempts to translate the mummification process (and the human biological elements) into an awe-inspiring feature capable of matching the Cincinnati Museum Center's interactive exhibition Lost Egypt with its replication of a field site and laboratory along with various mummies and smaller-scale video interviews. Mummies: Secrets of the Pharoahs, as with most…
Irene in Time (Review)
Further evidence that Henry Jaglom’s filmmaking career is on its last gasp, Irene in Time is an all too prosaic story about Irene (Tanna Frederick), an emotional basket case attempting to resolve burning questions about her abandoning father so that she might be able to sustain a romantic relationship of her own. With her arsenal…
Stage Door: Laramie Project Revisited
There’s a lot of good theater available this weekend — Equus at New Edgecliff, Victoria Musica at the Cincinnati Playhouse, Dead Man’s Cell Phone at ETC and The Lion in Winter at Cincinnati Shakespeare (in its final weekend) are all productions worth seeing — but I want to draw your attention to one day beyond…
CityBeat Podcast 29: The Lost Boys of Sudan
On this episode we hear from Michael Kuany of Rebuild Sudan. Michael is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. —- If you like what you hear, please support our podcast by subscribing to our podcast in iTunes or via our RSS feed. Also, please tell your friends and share this link on Facebook and…
Week 5 – Chris Morman
You were under a lot of pressure tonight. What advice would you give other athletes who want to keep cool in extreme sports such as Bengals Football Bolo Toss? Drink plenty of beer. Is there anyone who you would like to thank who may have played a small role in your victory tonight? Hal Morris,…
Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Review)
Critic's Pick Imagine one of René Magritte’s paintings brought to fulminous, razzle-dazzle life. That’s Sarah Ruhl’s highly, wryly comic new play, Dead Man’s Cell Phone. Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati offers this regional premiere in a well conceived but mostly impenetrable production directed by Michael Evan Haney and brilliantly designed by Brian c. Mehring. Ruhl’s richer,…
Footlighters Open ‘Sweeney Todd’ Tonight
What would musical theater be like without the contributions of Stephen Sondheim? Not much. Over the past 50-plus years (his first Broadway show was West Side Story in 1957), Sondheim has contributed lyrics and music — often both — to nearly 20 musicals. Which one is the greatest? There might be room for argument here…
NYC Sheds Light on Local Gun Show
Supporters of stricter gun control laws have long alleged that Ohio is a primary center for illegal firearm purchases, and a recent investigation by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appears to confirm the point. Bloomberg’s office conducted a sting operation at a Sharonville gun show in late May and found that four sellers sold…
Onstage: Meet Me in St. Louis
Want to feel younger, instantly? Head to the Covedale on Cincinnati’s West Side for Meet Me in St. Louis. If this nostalgic show, based on the 1944 Judy Garland film and full of playful tunes like “Skip to My Lou” and “Under the Bamboo Tree,” doesn’t make you feel like a kid again, the audience…
Menagerie of Meaning
When is a tiger not just a tiger? An eagle more than an eagle? When they’re painted as messages about social and political conditions, philosophies about leadership and cultural values. This was the case during the Chinese Imperial Court between the 11th and 19th centuries, when its painters used animals as symbols. Many of the…
CCV, City Settle CityBeat’s First Amendment Lawsuit
It’s been a good couple of weeks here at CityBeat. First off, the MidPoint Music Festival, in its second year under our control, was a huge success despite the rain. Then last week I signed two settlement documents to conclude our 2008 lawsuit against Citizens for Community Values (CCV), the City of Cincinnati and dozens…
Dead Man Talking
Romell Broom achieved a macabre notoriety this past month when he became the first man to survive his date with the needle. Not just in Ohio, but anywhere. Broom, a convicted rapist and murderer, endured more than two hours of poking and stabbing before his execution was called off indefinitely. His executioners could not find…
Wine, Dine and Go Green
There are more than a few opportunities to party with greenies and foodies this month. Pedal into fall on Cincinnati’s third Queen City Bike Dine noon-5 p.m. Saturday at Park and Vine (1109 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine). This 20-mile bike tour includes vegan options at three local restaurants: The Hideaway, Five Star Foodies Commissary and Green…
One Last Dip
After a soggy yet successful MidPoint Music Festival and a brisk, two-night return of the reenergized Popopolis (replete with the Fountain Square Dance Team) you might be suffering from … October in Cincinnati! Whatever the ailment, have no fear: Although many shows move indoors this week, the music continues. As the city reluctantly says hello…
Onstage: Victoria Musica
How can people with the best of intentions do things that eventually turn out to be wrong, or at least misguided? Such matters are the foundation of Michele Lowe’s Victoria Musica, in its world premiere at the Cincinnati Playhouse. The overt focus of this play is Victoria Wedlin (Mariann Mayberry, pictured), a world-renowned cellist whose…
Meet Me in St. Louis (Review)
Want to feel younger, instantly? Head to the Covedale on Cincinnati’s West Side for Meet Me in St. Louis. If this nostalgic show, based on the 1944 Judy Garland film and full of playful tunes like “Skip to My Lou” and “Under the Bamboo Tree” doesn’t make you feel like a kid again, the audience…
Akira (Review)
A few weeks ago my roommate was asked to entertain two West Coast business associates. He frantically texted me asking if I knew about any sushi joints near his workplace in Fairfield. My response was one word: Akira. Having developed a taste for sushi in college, I avoided the long-standing West Chester establishment for years…
Fashion Abstraction
With the opening of Chewing Color, the new exhibition of the subversive, questioning, unnervingly intimate and maddeningly beautiful fashion photography of Marilyn Minter, the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) has three simultaneous exhibitions that prominently feature video work. That should tell you something about where contemporary art is going. Like all of society, it’s becoming more…
Music: Keller Williams
Keller’s Cellar, Keller Wliliams' radio show, is just another piece of the holographic musical jigsaw puzzle that Williams has been assembling since the early ’90s. Influenced by and, to a certain extent, modeled after the Grateful Dead, Williams’ output reflects the panorama of American music as he crafts his unique musical vision utilizing Bluegrass, Prog,…
Confused in Colerain
Dear Maija, I recently started drinking Hudy Delight because I think it’s really novel to drink beer that was made in Cincinnati. I also think it’s great that Burger is back in production even though it tastes like it has nickels in it. Anyway, I’m a little bit disappointed in Hudy after seeing their latest…
Unemployed
Getting the news: 4:40 p.m. My manager stops by and says HR would like to see me. No real panic (yet), just curious. Maybe a promotion? As I sit down, a bad feeling comes over me. I hear the word “termination.” I visibly shake. Fireworks go off in my head. “You were a great employee,…
Zombieland (Review)
Arriving on the coattails of Twilight, True Blood and myriad other recent living dead offerings (not to mention decades of George A. Romero’s genre-defining entries), Zombieland is as much buddy-centered road movie as it is gore-laden splatter fest. This juicy piece of pop culture pleasure centers on the unlikely duo of Jesse Eisenberg and Woody…
Art: Roaring Tiger, Leaping Carp at the Cincinnati Art Museum
When is a tiger not just a tiger? An eagle more than an eagle? When they’re painted as messages about social and political conditions, philosophies about leadership and cultural values. This was the case during the Chinese Imperial Court between the 11th and 19th centuries, when its painters used animals as symbols. Many of the…
Not So Thoroughly Modern
Like Xerxes the Great in ancient Persia, local developer Ed Horgan is pursuing a vision to build an awe-inspiring empire of sorts in Cincinnati. Unlike Xerxes, though, he isn’t organizing far-reaching military conquests or invasions to make his vision a reality. Instead, Horgan has committed himself to the mission of remaining in his hometown to…
Events: ROAR at the Cincinnati Art Museum
The Cincinnati Art Museum will celebrate the opening of its groundbreaking Roaring Tigers, Leaping Carp exhibition with a ROAR party this Friday from 9 p.m. to midnight. It will feature live music from Lion's Rampant, a performance from DJ Empirical, surprise appearances, Chinese films, food and a cash bar. Price is $20 pre-purchase; $30 at…
Renters’ Rights
Whether you’re looking for an apartment close to your school or close to your new job, follow these three rules to get the best out of your new relationship with your landlord. Step 1. Read your lease First, read over your lease to make sure it doesn’t state anything you think is unfair or enforceable.…
Warning: Winter Weather Approaching
Fall is upon us. Schools are back in session, football players are back on the gridiron and it’s time to begin thinking about preparing your home for winter. Aww, do I have to? It’s the age-old whine of reluctant homeowners everywhere: Do I really need to winterize my home? “You should if you want to…
The September Issue (Review)
After being the inspiration for Meryl Streep’s demanding, commanding, fashion-magazine ice queen in The Devil Wears Prada, longtime Vogue editor Anna Wintour gets a chance to show us what she’s really like in R.J. Cutler’s documentary The September Issue. It studies how she supervises Vogue’s most important and lucrative fall-fashion issue. But it also reveals…
Leis Jr., Seitz, Wickrema, Golden Lion
[LOSER] Simon Leis Jr.: We knew he couldn’t help himself. Just two weeks after CityBeat dubbed him a “winner,” Hamilton County’s crusty sheriff returned to form by letting his fourth highest paid employee retire to collect his state pension, then rehired the man for the same job. Although this type of “double-dipping” is legal in…
Prime Time to Paint
Fall brings moderate temperatures and dry weather, near-perfect conditions for sprucing up the exterior of your home with a fresh coat of paint. It’s easy to find advice for do-it-yourself painting. Check the Internet, especially paint company sites such as www.sherwin-williams. com, or visit the paint store. Some even offer online tools that let you…
Housing Headache
Greater Cincinnati’s public housing agency has been getting lots of attention in the media spotlight lately, but it’s probably not how it hoped to round out the year. The rush of publicity began when three Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) clients filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in…
Equus (Review)
Critic's Pick When playwright Peter Shaffer’s Equus opened on Broadway 35 years ago, it wasn’t easy to discern his purpose. Had he set out simply to craft a racketing good script with a philosophical undertow for audience members to puzzle over with their after-theater drinks? Or had he aimed higher? Had he sought to create…
General Store of the Future
To an ordinary person, the term “general store” might conjure up images of a podunk warehouse of sorts, nestled in a dusty, countryside town. A stop for horses and buggies along the Oregon Trail. Self-described as Cincinnati’s only “green general store,” Over-the-Rhine’s Park Vine is anything but podunk. Hip but surprisingly unassuming and devoid of…
Sept. 30-Oct. 6: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY SEPT. 30Were you or someone you know home-schooled? If so, there’s nothing to really say to you or your church buddy other than: “Nice sweatpants, dork!” The Enquirer reported today that hundreds of area online students met in Keehner Park in West Chester today for their seasonal interaction with other kids their age. The…
