Squeeze the Day for 10/4
Music Tonight: Acclaimed British singer/songwriter/guitarist Richard Thompson performs at Oakley's 20th Century Theater. Thompson (fun fact: his first band was with a high school classmate — Hugh Cornwell of Punk group The Stranglers) was a driving force behind early albums by BritFolk icons Fairport Convention and legendary ones with wife Linda Thompson, including Shoot Out…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Broken Social Scene is on indefinite hiatus. Band leader Kevin Drew told The Huffington Post, "This is the healthiest thing we can do. There's no bad blood, no problems, everyone is at peace. We've had a lot of inter-relationships, some have worked, some haven't. But we all loved what we were doing. And I think…
Occupy Wall Street to Occupy Sawyer Point
The Occupy Wall Street movement plans to occupy Sawyer Point this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., one of several protests planned in other cities since the protest over corporate money in politics began more than three weeks ago in New York. (UPDATE: The protest has been moved to Lytle Park due to an…
MNF: Hank Williams Jr., Out; Jello Biafra In?
Not that anyone really gives a [expletive] what Hank Williams, Jr., thinks about politics, but the country singer has gotten himself canned from Monday Night Football for saying insensitive things about subjects he doesn't know that much about. Williams yesterday told Fox & Friends that John Boehner's golf game with President Obama was "one of…
Morning News and Stuff
Cleveland officials are apparently trying to outlaw flash mobs, describing them as violent, unruly terrorizing of communities and family-friendly events. That's not how AT&T presents them in this cell phone commercial.—- Early voting in Ohio begins today. Have fun with that, Kasich. The Occupy Wall Street movement plans to occupy Sawyer Point this Saturday from…
Ray’s Music Exchange Reunions Become Annual
In July of last year, members of one of the more popular Cincinnati bands of the past 20 years — the Jazz/Funk/Fusion/Rock/Electronic/Etc. troupe Ray’s Music Exchange — got back together for a reunion concert at (now defunct) Silverton venue Play By Play. The show — for which special T-shirts were made — was such a…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
The Flaming Lips are releasing a 24-hour song on Halloween. According to frontman Wayne Coyne, "it's a song about death and it's a song about fucking and it's a song about life." The Lips will be releasing five limited-edition versions of the track that will be placed on a hard-drive and then inserted into human…
Candidates On: The Future of the Environmental Justice Ordinance
As part of CityBeat's continuing election coverage, we’ve once again sent a questionnaire to the non-incumbent Cincinnati City Council candidates to get their reactions on a broad range of issues. Nine of the 14 non-incumbents chose to answer our questions. Others either didn’t respond or couldn’t meet the deadline. During the next few weeks, we…
Emery Theatre Announces Restoration Plans
The Emery Theatre is finally on its way back. After years of dormancy, the 100-year-old Over-the-Rhine venue is in the midst of a restoration that will allow artistic endeavors of varying stripes to grace its stage. The Emery Center Corporation Board and The Requiem Project — the nonprofit brainchild of Tara Lindsey Gordon and Cincinnati…
Morning News and Stuff
The Enquirer over the weekend published a thoughtful story on contemporary African-American leaders, noting that it was less than 50 years ago when such discriminated-against individuals were busy working for the not-so-inalienable rights afforded by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As per usual, cincinnati.com commenters overwhelmed the…
A Bloody Good Addition to Know’s Season
My Curtain Call column about Know Theatre of Cincinnati from Wednesday’s edition of CityBeat was incomplete, since Artistic Director Eric Vosmeier was still wrestling for the rights to several shows. The picture is more sharply in focus today with the big announcement that Know will present the regional premiere of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, which…
Burn This (Review)
The title of Lanford Wilson’s Burn This suggests it will be inflammatory and tempestuous. Knowing that its original New York production starred John Malkovich and Joan Allen might heighten your expectation that a local production by New Edgecliff Theatre (NET) would pin you to the wall. Featuring Nathan Neorr’s energetic performance as the crazed Pale,…
Stage Door: A Play About (and For) Thinkers
This weekend one of the finest actors in our area, Bruce Cromer, will conclude a run in A Man for All Seasons at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. He's handling the heady, demanding role of Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt's 1962 Tony Award winning play. Cromer makes him witty, caring, sharp and cantankerous, an admirable verbal…
Squeeze the Day(s) for 9/30-10/1
Music Today: To quote Ghost World, "You guys up for some Reggae tonight?" If you are, head to Shades Lounge in Mount Healthy for a triple dose. Headlining is Milton Blake, Jamaican native and (according to his Reverbnation profile) current Ohio resident who was influenced by everyone from Dennis Brown to Luther Vandross and has…
Big “Big Pig” Gig Starts Today!
The Big Pig Music & Arts Festival kicks off today in Ripley, Ohio (about an hour southeast of Cincinnati) at the Pisgah Hill Farm. The event runs from this afternoon until about sunrise Sunday morning (great local Electronica group Skeetones play a fest-closing set from 2-4 a.m. Saturday night/Sunday morn). Billed as "3 days and…
Morning News and Stuff
Opponents of Ohio's new restrictive election law have gotten it postponed until next year at the earliest, with a potential repeal of House Bill 194 in November ending it before it begins.—- An investigation into Laure Quinlivan's use of city computers to access her personal website has cost the city thousands of dollars and scored…
What’s Your Number?
Mark Mylod’s new romantic comedy is little more than a filmed advertisement for glossy women’s trend magazines. Remixing the publishing-driven, marriage-minded focus of 27 Dresses with casual femme raunch of Bridesmaids, What’s Your Number? ends up setting up another, more intriguing question for opening weekend box-office audiences: How many rote, mildly offensive romantic comedies…
Dream House
Daniel Craig, having shared time on screen with Harrison Ford this summer, now seems ready to follow even more closely in the rugged action star’s footsteps by imitating his mid-to-late-career shift (an end-around fake at best) into a surprising genre: family thriller/horror. Dream House, a left-field turn also for director Jim Sheridan (In America),…
50/50
This dramedy from writer Will Reiser explores his own battle with cancer and the impact it had on his life. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Adam, Reiser’s film alter-ego, and Seth Rogen schlumps along for the ride as Adam’s best friend who struggles to bolster his friend’s spirits and come to terms with the situation for…
Candidates On: Assessing a Garbage Fee
As part of CityBeat's continuing election coverage, we’ve once again sent a questionnaire to the non-incumbent Cincinnati City Council candidates to get their reactions on a broad range of issues. Nine of the 14 non-incumbents chose to answer our questions. Others either didn’t respond or couldn’t meet the deadline. During the next few weeks, we…
Jon Stewart Interviews Nirvana/Nevermind Survivors
Comedian/social commentator Jon Stewart from The Daily Show interviewed the surviving members of Nirvana (Dave Grohl and Kris Novoselic) and the producer of Nevermind, Garbage's Butch Vig, which was broadcast this past weekend on Sirus/XM satellite radio in honor of the 20th anniversary of the band's breakthrough album. The two-hour interview was taped in New…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Arch West, the creator of Doritos (yeah keep reading, you frigging potheads), died Sept. 20 of natural causes at the age of 97. His remains will be cremated and buried in Dallas along with Cool Ranch, Blazin' Buffalo and Ranch and, of course, Nacho Cheese Doritos. West's family requested that friends and relatives who attend…
Q&A with Death Cab for Cutie
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } One of the strangest word combinations to ever create a band name, Death Cab for Cutie controls the alternative music scene across America. They have been a nationally touring band since 1997 with their first release. Now in their 14th year, Codes and Keys has been one of the band's…
Cincinnati Film Festival Opens Tonight!
New Cincinnati Film Festival (CFF) Director of Programming Brandon Harris isn't shy about pimping the quality of his choices for this year's fest: “This represents the most ambitious and internationally acclaimed program of films ever screened in Cincinnati.”—- After glancing at the slate of 90 films, 33 of which are of the full-length variety, it's…
Squeeze the Day for 9/29
Music Tonight: Nick 13, the singer/songwriter/guitarist for successful Psychobilly group Tiger Army, performs in Newport at the Southgate House tonight at 9 p.m. Mr. 13's solo work is rootsier and closer to pure Country; expect to hear new material and unique renditions of Tiger Army tunes. (TA fans, fear not — Nick 13's solo work…
Morning News and Stuff
Ohio's new concealed-carry law will take effect tomorrow, allowing Second Amendment lovers the opportunity to reach into their pocket and feel the cold, smooth feel of safety while enjoying a non-alcoholic beverage at a bar or restaurant in Ohio. Seriously, y'all better not be drinking or the liberals will tell on you before you can…
Beauty and the Beast (Review)
There’s no doubt that Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is a show audiences have loved. It had 5,461 performances over 13 years, making it the eighth longest-running show in Broadway history. Based on the animated film with great musical numbers and done right, it’s a surefire crowd-pleaser. That’s pretty much what’s landed onstage at the…
Candidates On: Moving the Drop Inn Center
As part of CityBeat's continuing election coverage, we’ve once again sent a questionnaire to the non-incumbent Cincinnati City Council candidates to get their reactions on a broad range of issues. Nine of the 14 non-incumbents chose to answer our questions. Others either didn’t respond or couldn’t meet the deadline. During the next few weeks, we…
David Kennedy Addresses Cincinnati’s Homicide Problem
David M. Kennedy, whose Operation Ceasefire program has helped turn around Cincinnati's homicide rate, will be back in town Oct. 11 to discuss his new book, Don't Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship and the End of Violence in Inner-City America. The book, which will be published Oct. 4, relays how Kennedy's Ceasefire philosophy…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski last night was greeted with applause while picking up his lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival. He was unable to pick up the award in 2009 after being arrested by Swiss police for allegedly having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. "I mean, who else would have the…
Killer Elite
What happens when you combine Jason Statham (The Transporter series) with Clive Owen (Shoot ’Em Up) and Robert De Niro (Heat)? First-time feature writer-director Gary McKendry wastes their combined talents and action skills with a narrative that is supposed to be based on a true story (inspired by Ranulph Fiennes’s examination into the British…
Abduction
Taylor Lautner (the canine heartthrob from the Twilight series) is in the hunt to prove that he can open or carry a new release on his own, and Abduction, an action-thriller directed by John Singleton, finds him in Jason Statham/Matt Damon lite land as a teenager with no idea who he really is and…
Squeeze the Day for 9/28
Music Tonight: Seattle's Motopony bring its endearing Electro/Folk/Indie Pop/Soul hybrid to the Southgate House tonight for an intimate show in the venue's Parlour room. The band was formed by fashion designer and writer Daniel Blue and received a lot of attention right out of the gate, drawing praise from NPR, KCRW, RCRD LBL and Nylon…
Fabulous Pickups Preview New Album Today
Fly, the debut album by local Roots/Country act Kelly Thomas and the Fabulous Pickups, doesn't get an official CD release celebration until Nov. 18 (in conjunction with a show at Newport's York Street Cafe), but this evening you can get a sneak peek as the band hosts a special release party in honor of the…
Ignoring the Good News in Africa
Traditional journalism feasts on misery: War, plague, famine, flood and deadly storms. We’re addicted to bad news. It’s our most pervasive bias. Audiences love it. It’s generally profitable and a reliable career ladder. Maybe it’s because outcomes are uncertain and that tension, so vital to successful storytelling, is omnipresent. That’s why we cover politics as…
Morning News and Stuff
Here's reason No. 1,826 that Republicans will continue to try to ruin President Obama's jobs plan: a survey of economists said it “would push down the jobless rate in 2012” which would “possibly boost Obama’s reelection bid with the potential job growth.” Will calling himself a “warrior for the working class” help? Only if it…
Sept. 21-27: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY SEPT. 21 Some of Mason’s brightest residents panicked today, believing that a small plane landed on the side of Interstate 71. Emergency crews and firefighters converged on the site like something out of Rescue 911 (which was a good show). Wise village elders eventually determined that there wasn’t an emergency landing and that Sully…
Despite Shaky Record, Schmidt Gets Protection
I t’s been a rocky couple of weeks for U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Miami Township), whose ethics are once again being questioned. First, Schmidt was selected by a nonpartisan ethics watchdog group as one of the most corrupt members of Congress. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) bestowed the dubious honor on Schmidt…
Creating a Divine Mess
I t was never close to becoming an Ohio version of Inherit the Wind, but a recent effort to bring a creationism class to public school students in Springboro has been quietly dropped after it received widespread criticism and a threatened lawsuit by the ACLU. Springboro School Board member Kelly Kohls, who also leads the…
