Event: Bi-Okoto’s Heritage Festival
It’s a celebratory time of the year, and the locally based African drumming and dance ensemble Bi-Okoto offers a hot, high-energy alternative to holiday-related fare with its 2012 Heritage Festival this Saturday. Bi-Okoto delivers a double dose of cross-cultural fun and learning: In the daytime at the Bi-Okoto Cultural Center, you can immerse yourself in…
Event: Saengerfest
More than half a century has gone by since Over-the-Rhine hosted Saengerfest, but it’s back again. A German-American choral tradition first held in Cincinnati in 1849, Saengerfest attracted thousands of people to the area to witness the festive holiday choral celebrations. What was once an integral part of Cincinnati holiday tradition faded away with the…
Event: Light Up OTR
Workers, admirers and residents of Over-the-Rhine know it’s been a busy year for the revitalized neighborhood, which has not-so-slowly morphed into one of the city’s hottest art, cultural and entertainment districts. For the third annual Light Up OTR event, gather with fellow OTR-lovers in a festive celebration and appreciation of the culture we’ve forged together.…
Onstage: It’s a Wonderful Life
Who hasn’t seen Frank Capra’s classic 1946 movie about George Bailey’s vision of life in Bedford Falls, N.Y., if he hadn’t lived? (George isn’t exactly Scrooge — that would be Lionel Barrymore’s Mr. Potter — but his enlightenment by Clarence Odbody, his guardian angel, gives him a new lease on life not unlike Charles Dickens’…
Comedy: Lisa Landry
Brash, bold and, of course, hilarious, Lisa Landry returns to town this weekend. Her acclaimed DVD Brazillionaire came out last year and has helped gain her an even bigger following. That’s good, as this is the only job that has ever worked out for her. “I kept getting fired off every job I ever had,”…
Event: GLBT Goes Wilde!
As Oscar Wilde said, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Come as you are in celebration of Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s third annual GBLT night with a production of Oscar Wilde’s hilarious classic, The Importance of Being Earnest. Kick off the evening in true Oscar Wilde style at the free reception at 6 p.m. with…
Curmudgeon Notes 12.12.2012
• As much as I usually enjoy Krista Ramsey’s controlled, empathetic reporting and writing, I don’t understand why Enquirer editors wasted her talent and their limited space on their serial about a bank-robbing granny. Who cares? If I learned anything, it was from the front page dedicated to the start of the serial. It was…
Puff Piece
I once lived in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood of Chicago where delis selling pierogies and Russian delicacies were on every street corner. With the exception of a couple of places, Cincinnati’s been devoid of good Eastern European food, until now. Bea Terekhov and her family make their “puffins,” aka puff pastries, from scratch using family…
Dummy Up
A s a successful photographer and music video director for several decades, Matthew Rolston has worked with the nation’s top — and most attractive — entertainers. His Daniel Craig portrait was on a recent Rolling Stone cover, he’s just completed videos for Kelly Rowland and Brandy, and other subjects include Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, Taylor…
Cincinnati Financial Giants Get Zeroes in LGBT Scores
LGBT rights are becoming “the new normal” in corporate America, but American Financial Group and Western & Southern Financial Group are apparently exceptions. Both Cincinnati-based Fortune 500 companies received a 0 percent for LGBT policies in the 2012 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). The index uses LGBT-related corporate policies to…
Ohio in No Hurry to Pass Right-to-Work
In light of Michigan’s progress in passing a so-called “right-to-work” law, Ohioans are both worried about and pushing for a similar law allowing workers to opt-out of paying union dues at businesses where workers are represented by a union. Tea party activists are working to gather the 380,000 signatures needed to get the Ohio Workplace…
Morning News and Stuff
For the first time since inauguration , Ohio Gov. John Kasich has a positive approval rating, but a plurality of registered voters say Kasich doesn’t deserve a second term. The Quinnipac University poll attributed the increase in Kasich’s approval rating to “high levels of satisfaction among Ohio voters with life in the Buckeye State.” About…
Dying Fetus
To lift a page from the Smucker’s marketing department — with a name like Dying Fetus, it has to be good. In the realm of Death Metal and Grindcore, Dying Fetus is more than good; it’s a band that has not only survived and thrived over the past two decades, but has managed to become…
Ultraviolet Hippopotamus
Since roaring out of the collegiate confines of Big Rapids, Mich. (home of the Ferris State Bulldogs … go ’dogs!), a mere eight years ago, Ultraviolet Hippopotamus has energized the national and international Jam community with a diverse stylistic range and a raucous and freewheeling approach to its live presentation. As UV Hippo has shifted…
Family Force 5
You don’t often hear the terms “Crunk” and “Christian” in the same paragraph let alone the same band description, but Family Force 5 has accomplished the rare feat of combining Rap, Punk, Hardcore, Funk, Metal and Dance beats with a Christian perspective. In fact, the Atlanta quintet has often been criticized for not weaving a…
Cinderella (Review)
It might not have occurred to you that Cinderella is a fairytale for the holidays, but at the Covedale Center they’ve made it into a cheerful family-friendly extravaganza, decked out with tinsel, glitter, snow, a midwinter ball and Christmas caroling. In fact, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the portly king had sprouted a white…
Workers’ Compensation Bill Under Scrutiny
An Ohio policy research group is taking offense to a local state senator’s “anti-immigrant bill.” If passed, S.B. 323, proposed in April by Ohio Sen. Bill Seitz, would require workers to prove their legal status to work before receiving workers’ compensation, but Innovation Ohio says the bill reaches too far to solve a problem that…
Court Might Reveal Identity of Miami Rape Flier Author
The sealing of a criminal court case involving a former Miami University student who posted a “Top Ten Ways to Get Away with Rape” flier in a freshman dormitory now has the presiding judge defending his decision to the Ohio Supreme Court. And he’s doing it with the help of the Butler County prosecutor who…
Morning News and Stuff
The city of Cincinnati and its largest city employees union have reached a deal regarding the privatization of the city’s parking assets. Under the deal’s terms, the city will give raises and not lay off anyone for three years, but only if the city’s parking assets are privatized. However, the head of a Clifton community…
Clifton: Private Parking Bad for Business
One of Cincinnati’s largest neighborhoods and business districts is adamantly against a proposed plan to lease the city’s parking systems. A Dec. 7 letter to the mayor from Clifton Town Meeting President Peter Schneider calls the plan “baffling,” “short sighted” and “counter-intuitive.” The city administration wants to lease all Cincinnati parking meters, garages and surface…
Navy Constructing $450 Million Ship Named for John Glenn
The Glenn is under construction in San Diego, where a keel-laying ceremony signifying the initial step in construction was held earlier this week. When it enters the fleet, which is expected in 2015, the vessel will be 837 feet long and displace 80,000 tons when loaded. Navy officials say they can use it for both…
City, Union Reach Deal Over Parking Privatization
In order to win the support of the largest city employees union for the leasing of Cincinnati’s parking facilities, the city administration has agreed to pay raises and no layoffs for three years. There’s a catch — municipal employees only get the raises and job security if the city’s parking meters, garages and surface lots…
Your Weekend To Do List: 12/7-12/9
It was 79 years ago this past Wednesday that Prohibition was repealed in the United States. After more than a dry decade of bootlegging, gangsters and booze-related crime, people could finally go to a bar and enjoy a cocktail legally. Can you imagine the parties that were thrown the night Prohibition ended? Tonight, Japp's recreates…
Stage Door: More Holiday Cheer
As I wrote in my column in the current issue of CityBeat, there's a lot of good holiday theater available on Cincinnati stages right now. The Playhouse's production of A Christmas Carol, now in its 22nd year, is best in class — a well-told traditional tale with some of the best professional actors in town…
Morning News And Stuff
In kind of one of those “good news/bad news” situations, the Labor Department announced that the U.S. economy added 146,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent — the lowest rate since December 2008. However, the Labor Department also revised downward the number of jobs added in the last two months,…
Activists Urge Boehner to Make Pentagon Cuts
Activists gathered on Thursday outside of the West Chester office of U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, asking the House’s top official to look at reducing military spending when coming up with a budget. The group of nearly two dozen — which included nuns, a veteran, a retiree advocate, a small businessman and progressive activists —…
Gay Marriage, Marijuana Legalized; Still No Apocalypse
This morning, social conservatives around the world dug themselves into Armageddon-resistant bunkers, preparing for what they knew was coming. Today, marijuana and same-sex marriage were being legalized in Washington state. But the bunkers may have been a waste of time and money, considering the end of the world didn’t occur. In fact, it seems like…
Report Pushes Solar Cincinnati
A Dec. 5 report is encouraging Cincinnati to become the solar energy capital of Ohio and the broader region. The report, titled “Building a Solar Cincinnati,” was put together by Environment Ohio to show the benefits and potential of Cincinnati regarding solar power. Christian Adams, who wrote the report along with Julian Boggs, says Cincinnati…
Morning News and Stuff
Redistricting reform may have died in front of voters, but will the state legislature pick up the pieces? Ohio Sen. Keith Faber, a Republican, and Ohio Sen. Nina Turner, a Democrat, say a deal is close . The senators say the task force in charge of finding a way to reform the state’s redistricting system…
Council Approves Resolution Asking for Fracking Control
Cincinnati City Council continued its effort to prevent a controversial method of drilling for oil and gas by passing a resolution on Wednesday asking the state to allow the city to make its own regulatory laws. The resolution expresses council’s dissatisfaction with the Ohio Legislature for granting “special privileges to the oil and natural gas…
County Commissioners Reduce Property Tax Rollback
Hamilton County homeowners can expect a larger bill come tax time. The Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday voted to halve the property tax rollback promised to voters as part of the package to build the two downtown sports stadiums. The rollback saves property owners $70 in taxes for every $100,000 of valuation.…
Music Tonight: The Brothers Devine and Silversun Pickups
Tonight in Northside, Mayday presents its monthly new local band showcase, "Unsung." This month's newcomers aren't entirely "new," but they are new to Cincinnati. The Brothers Devine, a quirky and eclectic AltRock two-piece (guitar/drums) featuring bros Andris and Erik Devine, recently moved to town from Milwaukee. The duo takes avowed influences like Green Day, System…
City Partnership to Support Small Businesses, Startups
The city of Cincinnati will be pairing up with a web-based lending platform to help out small businesses and startups. With the approval of the Small Business Advisory Committee, the city and SoMoLend will give up to $400,000 in loans to stimulate economic growth and job creation. The partnership will aid small businesses and startups…
Playing For Keeps
Gerard Butler fights valiantly to maintain a curious balance between action-oriented fare for guys like 300 and Law Abiding Citizen and rom-coms that slip and fall into a sub-category that, to be painfully honest, repels those same males who trudge to theaters for date nights with their intendeds. Playing for Keeps, about a former soccer…
Coaching Carousel Won’t Stop Spinning at UC
Butch Jones sat in a room Dec. 4 with University of Cincinnati president Santa Ono and a representative of the Belk Bowl and told the media — which was most certainly not there to discuss the Dec. 27 game against Duke — he had every intention of coaching the Bearcats in that game and beyond.…
City Slashing Media Bridges Funding
In his 2013 budget proposal, City Manager Milton Dohoney suggested eliminating $300,000 in support to Media Bridges, an organization that provides public access TV and radio stations in Cincinnati. Tom Bishop, executive director of Media Bridges, called the cuts a “meteor” to his organization’s budget. He said Ohio originally cut funding to Media Bridges in…
County Considers Tax Hikes
The Hamilton County Board of Commissioners held a public meeting Dec. 3 to discuss options for balancing the stadium fund. Board President Greg Hartmann suggested reducing the property tax rollback by 50 percent for two years, but he said he was unsure which way he would vote. During the meeting, Commissioner Todd Portune, the lone…
Budget Hearing Raises Questions About Parking Privatization
Cincinnati City Council members focused a lot of attention on a contentious plan to lease city parking assets during a Dec. 3 committee presentation on the 2013 budget. It was the first opportunity council members had to publicly question the budget’s architects. The proposed budget would cover the first half of 2013 until a switchover…
Cincinnati vs. The World 12.05.2012
A Bangladesh woman was forced to remarry the man who mutilated her by dousing her face with acid after she divorced him for cheating on her. WORLD -2 Anti-abortion groups publicly vilified Ohio Republican Sen. Tom Niehaus for declaring a “war on babies” when he shot down the controversial heartbeat bill, which would have given…
Dre Beats All, Metallica’s Coup and ‘Time’ Hearts Psy
HOT ‘Beats’ Workin’ For A Living Aspiring musicians looking for a path to wealth in the biz might want to ask Santa for headphones-making kits this Christmas. Topping the list from Forbes of 2012’s “World’s Highest-Paid Musicians” was an artist who hasn’t released an album in more than a dozen years — Dr. Dre. The…
Kasich’s Severance Tax Facing Bipartisan Resistance
The Ohio Farm Bureau (OFB) has officially come out against Gov. John Kasich’s plan to tax oil and gas production. The move from the Republican-leaning agricultural group is yet another blow to Kasich’s tax plan, which raises the severance tax on the oil-and-gas industry to pay for a cut to Ohio’s income tax. By now,…
Second Chances
“I don’t know if I’m good at playing any instruments yet,” Jacqueline Jackson, 53, says just minutes before she takes one of 11 seats to receive her diploma for graduation from Cincinnati Union Bethel’s Off the Streets (OTS) program Nov. 30. “I’ve never tried. Maybe if I try different instruments, maybe I’ll be good at…
‘Whisker Wars’ Celebrates Manly Pageantry
Movember may be over, but the gentlemen of Whisker Wars (10 p.m. Fridays, IFC) won’t be shaving their bodacious beards and sensational ’staches any time soon. The beardos are back and, for a second season, this oddly entertaining docu-series gives viewers a glimpse at the world of competitive facial hair. One might picture these frivolous…
Trash Talk
The Rumpke Mountain Boys exemplify what it is to be a Jamgrass band as they throw everything into their acoustic repertoire but the kitchen sink. The Cincinnati-based group can play a fired-up fiddle tune or they can put a new spin on Pink Floyd’s “Hey You.” The group just released its latest studio album, called…
Court Overturns Ban on Walnut Hills Basketball Player
A Hamilton County judge ordered the Ohio State High School Athletic Association to back off a last-minute decision that blocked Walnut Hills senior Dontonio Wingfield Jr. from playing basketball this season. Walnut Hills is the top-ranked large high school program in Southwest Ohio this year. Judge Robert Ruehlmann said the OHSAA previously ruled Wingfield eligible…
Auggie Smith Talks “The Man,” Marriage and More
With the re-election of Barack Obama last month, many people who were closely following politics and current events reached a burnout point the day after the election. Comedian Auggie Smith reached that stage almost a full year earlier. “I can’t watch any politics anymore without getting so angry,” he said back then. “I think it’s…
Shinji Turner-Yamamoto’s Silence Is Golden
Shhh! There’s a tree sleeping inside Phyllis Weston Gallery. You’ll want to be silent — not because you might awaken it, but so that it can awaken you to Shinji Turner-Yamamoto’s thinking. Turner-Yamamoto is the Japanese-born artist who opened Cincinnati’s eyes to using Mount Adams’ crumbling, deconsecrated Holy Cross Church as an art venue. There,…
Morning News and Stuff
It will soon be official. Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls will announce her mayoral campaign on Thursday at 10 a.m. Qualls has already announced her candidacy and platform on her website . Qualls will be joined by term-limited Mayor Mark Mallory, which could indicate support from the popular mayor. Right now, Qualls’ only known opponent is…
Making Merry, Theatrically
It’s time for mistletoe and holly, when theaters entice folks in search of holiday cheer (and occasional parodies thereof) to celebrate the season. Many theaters need December ticket revenues to present shows onstage for the rest of the year. I have joked that Charles Dickens is the patron saint of American theaters since countless renditions…
The Cla-Zels Rock on Second LP of 2012
Outside of Ryan Adams and Robert Pollard, it’s rare for an artist to release two full albums in a year. When dealing with a label, albums are usually spread out to allow one release to run its course commercially before releasing another. Artists on the D.I.Y. tip have taken to technology to release loads of…
Black Tea
Even Christopher Smitherman and Christopher Finney must roll over in the middle of the night in the strange bed they share and look at one another and wonder: How the hell’d this happen? But I know — and even understand — what they’re doing. It doesn’t make it any less icky and confusing. These two…
