Enquirer Drops by 16 Percent
For once, executives at The Enquirer probably are happy to have the newspaper deemed average. Jim Hopkins, who operates The Gannett Blog, recently tallied the circulation losses during the last five years at the media giant's 10 largest newspapers. Hopkins compiled the data from Gannett's annual reports to shareholders.—- The Enquirer's weekday circulation dropped from…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
When Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. yesterday announced that they’d be remaking Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 film Point Break, [all 12] fans of the original gave a contemptuous shout against the project. Fans made their disgust known on Twitter.—- Chris McCoy: They're remaking Point Break. If ever there was a time for Swayze to return Ghost-style…
African-American Town Hall Planned
A group of state lawmakers will hold a Town Hall-style meeting Thursday to discuss issues affecting African-American residents in Greater Cincinnati. The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus is sponsoring the event, called The State of African Americans in Ohio. Among those attending are State Sen. Eric Kearney (D-North Avondale), State Rep. Dale Mallory (D-West End) and…
Morning News and Stuff
In cities where people don't need cars to get to and from work, grocery stores, entertainment and doctors offices, there exists a company called Zipcar that provides vehicles for short periods of time during the rare occasions when a car is necessary. Here are the wild details of such a service coming to Cincinnati. (OK,…
10th Annual MidPoint Has Something for Everyone
Ten years ago, local musicians and occasional bandmates Bill Donabedian and Sean Rhiney witnessed their dream come true as the inaugural MidPoint Music Festival launched in Greater Cincinnati, showcasing exclusively unsigned artists, with an emphasis on local acts. After months of hard work and preparations, what started as a "Wouldn't it be cool if …"…
Wanna Be a Playwright?
If your aspirations include playwriting, New Edgecliff Theatre is offering a weekend intensive playwriting workshop for anyone age 16-22 — from beginners who have never dabbled in playwriting, to professionals wanting to get back to the basics. Catie O’Keefe, a professional playwright who is NET’s playwright-in-residence, will lead the workshops.—- The “Introduction to Playwriting” course is…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
The European Union today agreed to extend royalty protection for music performers and producers from 50 to 70 years. Opera singer Placido Domingo welcomed this as “great news for performing artists” and said, “Established artists can benefit from their work throughout their lifetimes.” Bono replied to the news saying, “I dunno who the fuck this…
Emmy Awards Live Chat!
"There are only two things I love in this world: everybody and television." – Kenneth Parcell, 30 Rock The Primetime Emmy Awards honor the best and most reliable platform of all media – TV! So gussy yourself up, pop a bottle of your finest Andre champagne and join our panelists for a live chat of…
Seelbach Calls for COAST Resignation
By now anyone who's interested in Cincinnati politics probably has heard about the insensitive and over-the-top comment posted Sept. 11 on Twitter by a leader of an anti-streetcar group. Mark Miller, treasurer for the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST), posted the following: 3% of FDNY died 10 yrs ago by terrorism. Today…
League Opposes Anti-Streetcar Issue
A prominent, nonpartisan group today announced its opposition to Issue 48, the proposed amendment to Cincinnati's charter that would block the creation of a streetcar system for at least a decade. The League of Women Voters of the Cincinnati Area issued a press release today stating it opposes the amendment because the wording is so…
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Review)
One of the spellers in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee loves her dictionary because “lost things can be put in order,” and another recognizes that his involvement could show his family that “I might be smart.” The musical about adolescents competing for the national spelling bee is ultimately about how they find their…
A Man For All Seasons (Review)
Critic's Pick Lawyer and statesman Sir Thomas More was a man of great intellect and pragmatic perspective. He became a confidante of King Henry VIII, a friendship that led to his execution in 1535 when he would not support the willful king’s desire to divorce Queen Catherine. More, a man of principle and a devout…
God of Carnage (Review)
I’m not a big fan of reality TV, although I certainly acknowledge the strange fascination many people have with eavesdropping on folks when their guards are down, and especially when emotions are tense. That’s the fundamental appeal of Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage, opening the Playhouse’s 2011-2012 season. Two upscale Brooklyn couples come together to…
Superior Donuts (Review)
If you’ve seen Tracy Letts’ previous plays, Superior Donuts might surprise you. His shockingly violent scripts Killer Joe and Bug have humor, but it’s very dark. August: Osage County hearkens back to three-act dramas with many complex characters; there are laughable twists and turns, but the Pulitzer Prize winner mostly plumbs the depths of a…
Next to Normal (Review)
Critic's Pick The serious topic of mental illness is the surprising subject of Next to Normal, a musical opening Ensemble Theatre’s 26th season. It’s a perfect choice for the Over-the-Rhine theater that never shies away from matters that affect the lives of everyday people. Employing a cast of mostly local professionals, director D. Lynn Meyers…
Morning News and Stuff
Cincinnati City Council is set to vote on a proposal that would ban police layoffs this year and next based on plans to secure funding and many other conditions. Such a complicated issue will probably be much easier to deal with during the 2013 election year.—- Higher education costs have gradually been shifting from states…
‘Ides of March’ Hits Toronto Film Festival
After a quick post-production turnaround, George Clooney’s The Ides of March debuted at the Venice Film Festival last week (to a mixed critical response) before being unveiled Thursday at a packed press and industry screening (a few people were even sitting in the aisles) here on Thursday. (It opens nationwide Oct. 7.)—- My first reaction?…
Stern Endowment bodes well for Playhouse’s future
Ed Stern retires from the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park next spring after 20 seasons, but his presence will be felt long after that thanks to funds that are being raised to honor him. The Edward Stern Endowment for Artistic Excellence will ensure the Playhouse’s future as a place where the nation’s finest directors, actors, designers and…
Breaking Through at Toronto Film Festival
After several days of technological dissonance, I've finally gained access to our blog. The logistical reasons for said dissonance are far too tedious to recount here, so I'll get right to it: I've seen 10 films over the last 60 hours, some good, some OK and none less than interesting. —- Let's start with the…
The Archdiocese and Islam
When The Enquirer reported Thursday that Archbishop Dennis Schnurr, head of the Cincinnati Archdiocese for the Catholic Church, would participate in an interfaith 9/11 memorial on Sunday with a Muslim group, it raised a few eyebrows and prompted some emails.—- That's because the Muslim group is the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations…
Q&A with Safetysuit
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Nashville-based Pop/Rock band Safetysuit formed as college friends in Tulsa, Okla., and went on to have hits like "Someone Like You" and "Stay" off its first album Life Let Go in 2008. The group (Douglas Brown, Dave Garofalo, Jeremy Henshaw and Tate Cunningham) is ready to release its sophomore album…
Ron Paul Jumps the Shark
Some progressive Democrats share a modest admiration for Ron Paul, a U.S. congressman from Texas and perennial darkhorse contender for the Republican presidential nomination.—- Maybe it's because he is one of the few GOP politicians that opposes the Iraq War and questions the United States' far-reaching, costly military presence around the globe. Maybe it's because…
Morning News and Stuff
John Kasich reduced the charges against an Akron school teacher for using the wrong address to enroll her kids in a different school. Probably felt bad for running out of vouchers. Kasich also says to Obama, “Bro, let my dudes build a uranium plant in Ohio. Stop being a bureaucrat.”—- Cliftonites can rejoice today with…
Next to Normal, Hard to Get
In this week’s issue of CityBeat you can read my feature about Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati’s first regional production of the rock musical Next to Normal, a real coup for them. Locally audiences have been responding, and the first week is nearly sold out, except for the new Saturday matinee series, a good bet if…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Eddie Murphy has been tipped to host the Oscars and since it’s the closest he’ll ever get to his own gold man, Oscar producer Brett Ratner says he knows Murphy “will bring excitement, spontaneity and heart." You mean more excitement and spontaneity than Norbit? Impossible.—- While it may not yet be in the works, Warner…
Tiffany Performs at Boogie Nights
Eighties mall girl-turned-pop star-turned-Playboy pin-up Tiffany swings through Hollywood Casino's Boogie Nights club Saturday!—- Tiffany "Madonna didn't need a last name so neither do I" Darwish made it big in 1987 at the age of 16 with her album Tiffany. It was the golden years of teen pop, when a kid could just go to…
Rumors, Lies and General Misunderstandings
• The PNC Summer Music Series on Fountain Square may be over, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still plenty of music to come in the city’s center. This weekend (Friday-Sunday), the Square hosts the 2011 Cincinnati Beer Fest, which, besides lots of different types of beer for tasting, will also present a sampler of…
Goetta for Vegans
“There’s no such thing,” the women at Glier’s Goetta in Covington emphatically told me when I called to ask if they knew anyone in town that sold vegetarian goetta. By definition, she explained, goetta has pork in it. Ipso facto, there is no such thing as vegetarian goetta. It seemed like if anyone should know,…
Morning News and Stuff
Conservatives are angry about something, so The Enquirer told one of its few remaining staffers to spend a couple hours searching for quotes on conservative blogs. Maybe it's because reporter Carl Weiser included in his preview of Jerry Springer coming to town a list of Springer's upcoming show topics, as if they have any relevance…
Liturgy with PC Worship
Standing on the fringes of experimental music, Hunter Hunt-Hendrix composes for Liturgy, a fairly new Black Metal band hailing from Brooklyn and currently on a short tour around the East Coast. The 26-year-old songwriter joins Greg Fox, Tyler Dusenbury and Bernard Gann in the band, on blastbeats, bass and guitar, respectively. Liturgy’s sophomore record, Aesthetica,…
Nina Turner and Chris Bortz
[WINNER] MUSIC FOR YOUTH: A free after-school classical music program that offers students in Price Hill the opportunity to study an instrument and play in an orchestra, Music for Youth was founded by cellist Laura Jekel. Working with Price Hill Will and BLOC Ministries, the program provides urban children with access to free, high-quality musical…
Aug. 31-Sept. 6: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY AUG. 31 Does a teacher make more money than you? A goddam teacher?!? If so (and if you’re the type of person who believes it’s either easy or fun to spend all day trying to teach things to dumb kids), then Republican State Treasurer Josh Mandel has you covered — just head on over…
Ghostland Observatory
When you think of pulsing dance beats and histrionic vocals, the first thing that comes to mind is probably nowhere near Austin, Texas, in the philosophical or geographical sense. And yet that is precisely where Ghostland Observatory’s ass-shaking, mirror-ball-and-adrenaline Synth Pop/Dance Rock originates. Frontman Aaron Behrens has drawn positive comparisons to Freddie Mercury and Prince…
Need for Labor Movement Greater Than Ever
I f you listen to today’s Republican leaders, they will tell you that it’s because of high taxes and overzealous regulations that the economy is sluggish and the unemployment rate remains high. “Right now, America’s employers are afraid to invest in an economy … hamstrung by uncertainty,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-West Chester) during…
Sense & Sensibility (Review)
F or 31 years Jon Jory was the artistic leader of Actors Theatre of Louisville. He championed Jane Martin, a reclusive playwright who many observers believed to be Jory himself. Since his departure for the world of academia a decade ago, Jory has turned his attention to another Jane — 19th-century novelist Jane Austen —…
Noises Off (Review)
M ichael Frayn’s Noises Off might seem like a lot of easy laughs. The funny backstage farce has slamming doors, amusing misunderstandings and exaggerated characters. Its clever three-act structure takes you from a final rehearsal of a silly farce to frenzied backstage during a performance and then onstage for a final outing when things are…
The Lingering Terror of 9/11
About the Author: With more than 50 years of activism, politics and writing, Tom Hayden is a leading voice for ending the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan and reforming politics through a more participatory democracy. A fter witnessing the first jetliner crash into the Twin Towers on that bright Sept. 11 morning in 2001,…
The ’Bears’ Switch Project
B lack Joe Lewis & the Honeybears usually get compared to classic R&B, Soul and Blues artists like Howlin’ Wolf, James Brown and Wilson Pickett — obvious enough touchstones considering the group plays a hard-hitting blend of Soul, Rock & Roll and Blues. But when making the group’s most recent album, Scandalous, guitarist Zach Ernst…
The Why? Chromosome
A fter a decade of California life, the brothers Wolf, collectively doing business as Why?, are finally back in their home state. Josiah relocated to Xenia with his wife and Yoni recently bought a house in Northside, which is undergoing extensive renovations. In the meantime, the younger Wolf is following the path of so many…
Contagion
C ontagion’s PG-13 rating predicts the film’s less-than-horrific nature following a promising opening sequence. Director Steven Soderbergh inflects his beautifully photographed compositions with a slick Techno Pop score yet can’t compensate for a script splintered into too many subplots. Screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (The Informant!) ignores fundamental rules about providing the audience with a clear…
Higher Ground
R eligion, especially the fervent born-again set, bedevils filmmakers. The showmanship lurking behind the charismatic approach seems to be something that film can latch onto and present with much of its natural frenzy and allure intact, but there is the far trickier notion of faith, the belief that what cannot be seen and easily revealed…
White, 9/11 and the Outlawz
[HOT] There Ought To Be Clowns … Jack White’s latest project isn’t another Indie supergroup, nostalgia act career revival or the introduction of a young ingénue. Part early Halloween gift, part late April Fool’s joke, White channeled his inner Dr. Demento and teamed up with the second most famous Detroit duo of this century, Insane…
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Leslie Richmond [Vito’s Cafe]
Everyone’s heard of The New Adventures of Old Christine (the CBS comedy series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Pretty soon everyone will know about the new culinary ventures of Vito’s new/old chef — Leslie Richmond. Richmond has worked for Mary and Vito, the owners of Vito’s Café, off and on since 2003. She recently came back after…
Anna’s Regret
Anna called me one night around 9 o’clock. I knew she was calling me from a bar, could hear the jukebox in the background, could hear a Country song playing, which was almost louder than Anna. She was slurring her words when she asked me to join her. I couldn’t that night, but I agreed…
No Easy Answers
B y the summer of 2007, Columbus-based AP reporter Andrew Welsh-Huggins recognized that an ongoing story he’d been covering put Ohio at the center of events making important national news. “All this information was swirling around: Christopher Paul was indicted, the coffee-shop meetings were coming out,” Welsh-Huggins says in a recent phone interview. At that…
Sankalp (Review)
To my delight, Sharonville has a wealth of Indian eateries. The corridor of Reading and Lebanon Roads alone houses a half-dozen; some strictly vegetarian, and others offering delights for the carnivorous among us. With my intrepid husband in tow, I made my way there recently to sample Sankalp Indian Restaurant. Sankalp started out as a…
UC Replants Crystal Garden
While University of Cincinnati’s relocation and reinstallation of Dennis Oppenheim’s “Crystal Garden” wasn’t meant as a memorial to the internationally renown sculptor, it ends up being that. The decision to make the work a much more prominent piece of UC’s itself-internationally-renowned campus landscape was arrived at in November 2010, before Oppenheim’s January death from liver…
Yes to YES
Y ES is one of several recent additions to Over-the-Rhine’s gallery district along Main Street, which is being invigorated with a new wave of DIY energy. Along with the print studio and store Static Age, the design collection Losantiville, the clay studio MUD on Main and the Final Friday PopShops — one-night-only bazaars that show…
No Punches Pulled
I t’s a rare for a musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama. You probably know some of those shows: South Pacific, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Chorus Line, Sunday in the Park with George. After Rent won in 1996, it was 14 years before another musical was honored: In…
