Seabird CD Release Party
The local band Seabird spent 2008 riding high on its debut for EMI/Credential Recordings, ‘Til We See the Shore, promoting it on the road (including a recent tour with Christian Rock superstar David Crowder) and on TV (network shows like Numb3rs, Grey’s Anatomy and Pushing Daisies have featured Seabird’s dramatic, emotive music) and even scoring…
Music: Works Progress Administration
The story behind Works Progress Administration, the all-star contemporary Folk/ Bluegrass/ AltCountry-tinged band currently on tour, is an unusual one. Although the group playing the Southgate House is a five-piece — based around three singers/frontmen in guitarists Sean Watkins and Glen Phillips and fiddler/guitarist Luke Bulla, plus bassist Sebastian Steinberg and drummer Jerry Roe —…
Events: Powerhouse Factories Holiday Rock Poster Party
The creative kids over at Covington’s Powerhouse Factories celebrate another year of superior design with their annual Holiday Rock Poster Party 6 p.m.-midnight Friday, a gathering that never fails to yield at least one gift for the discerning music lover on my Christmas list. Creators of crafty, colorful Rock gig posters for nearly a decade,…
Onstage: Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty casts a spell, largely on the powers of two women: Deb G. Girdler, the most reliable villainess in the kingdom (she was the Queen of Hearts last season), who hits an even wider range of evil and hilarious notes here as the avenging fairy Wisteria (pictured); and talented CCM student Alaina Mills, making…
Holiday: Santacon
If you have a Santa suit or a Mrs. Claus outfit (you can dress as an elf, too, but these are frowned upon) you can be a part of Santacon — a Christmas-themed bar crawl. All you do is sign up on the Santacon Web site, dress up and take direction from text messages on…
Sports: Crosstown Shootout
It never really matters which team is ranked higher when it comes to the Crosstown Shootout. Xavier has beaten UC twice when the Bearcats were ranked No. 1 in the country, so when it comes to this local rivalry and the Skyline Chili-sponsored pride at stake, anything can happen. That’s why the fact that UC…
Art: Made in Cincinnati at Fabricate
Fabricate opened just a few weeks ago inside Northside’s Red Polly furniture store. As a mixture of art gallery and handmade craft shop, it has already shown good taste in culling real treasures from the local DIY community. This Saturday it will premiere a project called Made In Cincinnati that offers insight into the creative…
Wade to Go
There are fine lines between confidence and arrogance and humility and self-doubt. Wade Baker is nowhere near either line. His confidence is as boundless as his musical talent, and yet he takes neither his abilities nor his place in the Cincinnati scene for granted. During a recent lunch at El Rancho Grande, Wade said of…
Armored (Review)
In terms of being a throwaway action-oriented programmer, Armored settles into a B-movie groove quite nicely. The barely topical story of a young war vet (Columbus Short) who, returning home to few prospects and family commitments he can hardly afford to keep, joins an armored car crew (featuring Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne and Jean Reno)…
Onstage: Oliver!
The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center's seen Dickens on stages elsewhere (as in A Christmas Carol) and is bringing forth Oliver!, the tale of a good-natured orphan who overcomes trials and tribulations, not to mention petty crime and one major murder. This one features local actor Charlie Clark in the role of Fagin, who…
Onstage: A Christmas Carol
It’s been 166 years since Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol. But there’s considerable local history to be totaled up as the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park presents its annual holiday production for Tristate audiences for the 19th consecutive year this Dec. 3-30. Dickens’ book was an instant success in 1843, priced at just five…
Music: Sick Puppies
You can thank Silverchair for helping spawn the band Sick Puppies, but you have to thank Florida novelist Carl Hiaasen for the name. It was a dozen years ago when Shimon Moore and Emma Anzai met in the music room of their Sydney, Australia, high school and discovered their mutual love of the aforementioned Aussie…
Onstage: Once Upon a Mattress
Jersey Productions is presenting the cheeky Once Upon A Mattress, a comic re-telling of the tale of The Princess and the Pea. It’s a delightfully sweet piece, a great choice for the holidays (although it does involve an unplanned pregnancy, but that ends happily, too). Mattress run through Dec. 19. Tickets are $25-$30. 513-621-2787. Get…
Holiday: Holidays on Ludlow
Clifton’s quaint business district gets some special holiday attention with Holidays on Ludlow. This annual event turns the shops and restaurants on the strip into a magical winter experience with family-friendly holiday activities. Park your car in the Merchant’s lot on Howell, or just walk to Ludlow Avenue, to stroll the street, listen to carolers…
Art/Lit: Beverly Erschell
Beverly Erschell celebrates the publication of a book about her painting career, The Art of Beverly Erschell by Sue Ann Painter (Cincinnati Book Publishers), with a signing/wine-and-cheese reception in her hometown of Fort Thomas, KY, at Bowman’s Framing, on Friday from 5-7 p.m. Hard- and soft-copy versions of the book will be available for purchase…
It’s Raining New Album Releases
It'll be pouring CD release parties this weekend, with five very disparate area bands celebrating the completion of their newest studio offerings (including altrockers Seabird, partying in the name of their latest at the Southgate House Saturday; see more on them here). If you ever wanted to witness the breadth of local music firsthand, gas…
Onstage: Titanic
Yes, the ship sinks. Happily, the musical does not. Titanic, that is, now onstage with a cast of 37 at Northern Kentucky University. Logistically, this Titanic is mostly up to the difficulties. Composer-lyricist Maury Yeston and author Peter Stone have created a show with close to continuous music, solos for more than 20 people, huge…
Art: Idyll at Prairie Gallery
Artist Celene Hawkins knows that vision is selective. What she sees is often strikingly beautiful but disturbing. In what might be called alternative readings of our environment, Hawkins looks for “systems of order and decay,” conditions not mutually exclusive, and interprets them variously in her exhibition Idyll at Prairie Gallery. She tells us she wants…
Comedy: Robert Hawkins
You’ll have to forgive comedian Robert Hawkins if he’s skeptical about the severity of the recent economic downturn. “This could be a record year [for me],” he says. “This could be 40 weeks or more on the road…which is both a blessing and a curse. Be careful what you wish for.” Even with his doubts,…
Sleeping Beauty (Review)
Critic's Pick To sleep for 100 years. Sounds pretty good at the height of the holiday rush. Where’s an evil fairy when you need one? Happily, we don’t have to be a certain hibernating princess to escape the hustle and give our kids a rest from their Santa obsessions. Last seen at Ensemble Theatre of…
Works Progress Administration with Caravan of Thieves
The story behind Works Progress Administration, the all-star contemporary Folk/ Bluegrass/ AltCountry-tinged band currently on tour, is an unusual one. Although the group playing the Southgate House is a five-piece — based around three singers/frontmen in guitarists Sean Watkins and Glen Phillips and fiddler/guitarist Luke Bulla, plus bassist Sebastian Steinberg and drummer Jerry Roe —…
A Man, a Dog, a ‘Study’ and Hurried, Gullible Reporters
A recent banner story on page 1 of The Enquirer's Local Life embraced the Sin of Parochialism with gusto and no hint of shame. It reported that Cincinnati Country Day was the second best high school in Ohio, based on passing percentage on state graduation tests and some yet-to-be revealed formula. Even in this increasingly…
Sick Puppies with Rev Theory and Adelitas Way
You can thank Silverchair for helping spawn the band Sick Puppies, but you have to thank Florida novelist Carl Hiaasen for the name. It was a dozen years ago when Shimon Moore and Emma Anzai met in the music room of their Sydney, Australia, high school and discovered their mutual love of the aforementioned Aussie…
Drivin’ N Cryin’, Kent, Califone and Six Finger Satellite
It’s becoming a saga, isn’t it? I think I’ll call it My Left Kidney. Chapter 5: The lithotripsy was successful in breaking up my poor kidney stone, but now the pieces have settled into the low part of the kidney, well below the opening that will allow me to pass the fragments before they coalesce…
Titanic (Review)
Yes, the ship sinks. Happily, the musical does not. Titanic, that is, now onstage with a cast of 37 at Northern Kentucky University. There are some lurches and hesitations, some missteps and technical uncertainties, which is odd, considering that director Mark Hardy is the canny magician who last season staged The Women at NKU with…
Sideways Stories from Wayside School (Review)
I really wanted to like Know Theatre’s Sideways Stories from Wayside School. It’s a new “family-friendly” show for the holidays, but it could be presented anytime. There’s nary a sprig of holly or a “Bah, humbug” in sight. (There is a scary teacher who could use a few lessons from the spirits who straightened out…
Guest Editorial: Senate Fiddles as Earth Burns
(Activist Jeff Cobb, of Climate Change Advocates of Cincinnati, outlines why the climate change treaty meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, is important and how U.S. politicians are lagging in the effort.) The parallels between Nero fiddling while Rome burned and the callous neglect by politicians like the U.S. Senate while the Earth burns due to global…
Stage Door: Holiday-Free Theater
I think there are few more satisfying segments of musical theater than the opening 10 minutes of the musical Chicago, which is in town for a brief run at the Aronoff Center. The first number, “All That Jazz,” gives you an encyclopedia of the stylistic dance moves of iconic choreographer Bob Fosse, followed by “Funny…
IJPC Holds Holiday Fundraiser
A local nonprofit group dedicated to efforts at promoting peace and social justice will hold its annual holiday sale on Saturday. The Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center (IJPC) will stage its seventh annual St. Nick Day Sale from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Peaslee Neighborhood Center, 215 E. 14th St., in Over-the-Rhine.—- Various goods and…
Week 10 – Lindsay Voska
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?Get knocked up. Is there anyone who you would like to thank who may have played a small role in your victory tonight?My husband and the Bud…
Week 13 – Brittany Breitenstein
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?Have a Bud Light In your hand. Is there anyone who you would like to thank who may have played a small role in your victory tonight?Serenity…
Week 11 – Chris Ricci
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?Focus, take your vitamins, say your prayers and good things will happen. Is there anyone who you would like to thank who may have played a small…
Week 8 – Laura Kleinhog
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?Be cool, like me. Is there anyone who you would like to thank who may have played a small role in your victory tonight?Yes. Steve, Cle, Monica,…
Week 12 – Nick Vliege
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?Always stay calm, focused and keep your swagger. Is there anyone who you would like to thank who may have played a small role in your victory…
Week 9 – Tyrone Peterson
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?All I was thinking about was my sons face and how I wanted to take him to the game. Is there anyone who you would like to…
CityBeat Podcast 38: Beekeeping
Richard Stewart, manager of Carriage House Farm in North Bend, takes us to his apiary. Photojournalist Amanda McLaughlin shares stories about beekeeping. —- 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…
Friday Movie Roundup: The Dilemma of Being Robert DeNiro
Many people have complained in recent years (including Scott Renshaw in his review of Everybody’s Fine below) that Robert DeNiro is not the actor he used to be. Maybe, maybe not. —- A quick glance at his filmography over the last 14 years (or, more succinctly, his post-Scorsese output) reveals a man who is 1)…
More Enquirer Furloughs on the Way
2010 already is beginning to look a lot like 2009 at The Cincinnati Enquirer. In a memo issued Dec. 1, an executive with The Gannett Co., The Enquirer’s Virginia-based owner, wrote that newspaper employees must take another five-day, unpaid furlough within the first quarter of the year. Bob Dickey, Gannett’s U.S. community publishing president, blamed…
Music/Events: The Who 30th Anniversary Vigil Walk
In some ways, The Who concert tragedy of Dec. 3, 1979 – in which 11 died and many were injured during a crush of fans trying to get into Riverfront Coliseum (now U.S. Bank Arena) for a “festival seating” show — seems like ancient history. But in other ways it’s just like yesterday. The 30th…
Not Quite Hollywood (Review)
Australia immediately stirs the imagination. Outback regions populated by Aborigines and exotic animals. Free spirits devoted to surf and sand. Apocalyptic, anti-authoritarian warriors tearing up the landscape with hellcars. These images have a toe in truth but largely foreigners and native Australians seeking to define and understand the multifaceted land down under manufacture them. The…
Ninja Assassin (Review)
Producers Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers prop up the latest offering from Matrix second-unit director James McTeigue (V For Vendetta). This tale of a young orphan (Rain) trained in a physically and psychologically brutal manner and then betrayed by a secret society of assassins seems like another empty search for the next One (big…
Taxi: The Fourth Season
Every now and then, some entertainment publication tries to come up with a list of the funniest sitcom episodes of all time. There are a lot of great choices to be sure. “Soup Nazi” (Seinfeld), “The One Where Everybody Finds Out” (Friends) “Turkey’s Away” (WKRP in Cincinnati), the list really could go on and on.…
Learning the Limits of Military Power
Quick: Tell me why U.S. and NATO troops are in Afghanistan. If you say it’s to retaliate for the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and destroy the government that allowed the rural nation to serve as the launching pad for the bloody offensive, well, that’s already been accomplished. If you say it’s to prevent the…
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (Review)
The MacManus Brothers (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus) serve up a second helping of bloody justice in All Saints Day. If you want to see a killer action movie — and by killer, I mean one with ripe and meaty death dealing and pitch-black hooks that dig deep into your funny bones while teasing…
Drawn by New York (Review)
Historical societies’ “attics” — actually, they call it “storage” — are a lot like those at your great aunt Eloise’s house, only even better. You don’t know what you might find because there’s so much up there. One of the best of those institutional “attics” belongs to the New-York Historical Society, judging from the new…
Hot Spots for Spirited Holiday Carousing
If you associate the holidays with drinking or just need to chemically alter yourself before or after family gatherings, here are some of the best places to live it up this season. Tonic on 4th Tonic on 4th is where to go when you want to hang out with bartenders who know what they’re doing.…
Everybody’s Fine (Review)
If you had polled a random sampling of movie nerds in 1993, and asked them to name the best living male and female American actors, I’m willing to bet that the winners would have been Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep. Fifteen years later, Streep is as revered and versatile as ever. But what about Bob?…
It’s Garry Shandling’s Show (Review)
There are many reasons why you might not have heard of this fine sitcom. It initially ran on Showtime, before pay cable was a hip destination for original programming. A broadcast outlet picked it up, but FOX was only two years into its existence and audiences were still finding out about the “fourth network.” The…
Music: Omni Works Music All Star Fundraiser
It should be crystal-clear to anyone paying attention that music education in public schools ain’t what it used to be. Thanks to budget constraints and selfish child-less people who vote down school levies so they can keep paying for their extravagant satellite TV subscriptions, arts and music studies have been increasingly lessened or cut. Not…
Rumors, Lies and General Misunderstandings
• It should be crystal-clear to anyone paying attention that music education in public schools ain’t what it used to be. Thanks to budget constraints and selfish, child-less people who vote down school levies so they can keep paying for their extravagant satellite TV subscriptions, arts and music studies have been increasingly lessened or cut.…
Music: concert:nova
Four years ago, clarinetist Ixi Chen moved from New York to join the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and immediately began networking with other young professionals. There was a lot of enthusiasm for Chen’s work with the CSO but not for actually hearing her live — not even when she offered discounted tickets. Chen scheduled a…
Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy To Hold 2010 Conference Downtown
The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, an international organization that seeks to preserve, maintain and educate the public about all existing structures by the iconic American architect, will be holding its national conference in Cincinnati next year. It will occur Sept. 22-26 at the Netherland Plaza hotel downtown, with some 300-500 expected to attend. The…
Nov. 25-Dec. 1: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY NOV. 25If you’re an iPhone owner then you already know that there are two things that suck about owning such a cutting-edge device: the way poor people judge you when you use it on the bus, and how amazingly dangerous it is to text on the touchpad while driving. Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner is…
Taking It All Off
I might be a closet nudist. The realization began this summer while I was in Montreal covering a story. I was producing a radio story on an all-nude yoga studio in the heart of the old city — much safer than a video, I thought. Before the class began, I was confronted with a logistical…
La Mexicana (Review)
A couple of months ago, a loyal CityBeat reader challenged my assessment that Rio Grande in Newport had some authentic Mexican dishes. I will still say that as far as Mexican restaurants in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky go Rio Grande still offers some hole-in-the-wall surprises in a sea of Tex-Mex overload. (The fajitas are phenomenal.)…
Lighting the Way
Four years ago, clarinetist Ixi Chen moved from New York to join the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and immediately began networking with other young professionals. There was a lot of enthusiasm for Chen’s work with the CSO but not for actually hearing her live — not even when she offered discounted tickets. “I’m part of…
Conservative Policies and Progressive Voices
[LOSER] Progressive Voices: As Mayor Mark Mallory and the new City Council are sworn in this week, the city says goodbye to two of its trusted progressive allies, David Crowley and Greg Harris. Crowley was term-limited from running for council again and took ill in his last term, so he deserves a break from public…
Lung Cancer, Sad Songs, Warning Sickness
[HOT] Stairway to Lung Cancer?In an interview with the New York Post, Rock journalist Charles R. Cross (whose most recent book is the biography Led Zeppelin: Shadows Taller Than Our Souls) said that around 100 DJs insisted to him that the only reason “Stairway to Heaven” became such a Rock radio staple (one of the…
Music: Flobots
Flobots, the Denver-based Hip Hop septet, has been delivering music with a politically-heated message since their inception in 2000. Everything about the group seems choreographed to entice the listener’s sense of self-extremism. From their lyrics to their American flag bandanas to their stage monikers, Flobots want you to feel as though you’re part of the…
When Shock Hits
Last year, I went to the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards with a friend I’ll call Jimmy. This year, on the night of the same event, I went to his funeral. His death was traumatic and shockingly tragic to many. I feel for his family. I feel for his roommate and best friend, a sweet, pale woman…
We Must Remember This
In some ways, The Who concert tragedy of Dec. 3, 1979 – in which 11 died and many were injured during a crush of fans trying to get into Riverfront Coliseum (now U.S. Bank Arena) for a “festival seating” show — seems like ancient history. But in other ways it’s just like yesterday. The 30th…
