The Clunky Rebranding of Hot Pockets
For decades, Hot Pockets, those frozen, microwavable sandwich-like products found in practically every grocery and convenience store nationwide, led a fairly unspectacular existence. With the main selling points being that they are cheap, quick and easy, the customer base consisted of very busy people living a “go, go, go!” lifestyle (like parents and students) and…
Salazar (Profile)
Jose Salazar had a gig that a lot of chefs would envy — but dreams can be more powerful than a sure bet. Salazar moved to Cincinnati from New York in 2008 to head the kitchen at The Palace in the Cincinnatian Hotel, a respected dining room in a landmark hotel that had recently been…
Literary: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Kearns Goodwin is one of the nation’s most recognizable historians, especially after last fall’s tour to promote the film Lincoln, based on her book Team of Rivals. Now, she discusses her new book, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. The Pulitzer Prize-winner spent seven years, including…
Film: Paw Project Movie
This acclaimed documentary is a must-see for animal lovers, cat owners and anyone interested in how declawing affects cats. Approximately 25 percent of household cats in the U.S. are declawed and one determined veterinarian wants to put an end to this. Paw Project Movie is an hour-long movie written, directed and produced by veterinarian Dr.…
Event: Buddy Valastro: The Cake Boss
Buddy Valastro will be promoting his new book, Family Celebrations, and the upcoming seasons of his popular TLC programs, Cake Boss and Next Great Baker, at the Aronoff Center. Get behind-the-scenes stories from his family’s Carlo’s Bakery and learn how his family has built the shop to what it is today. Valastro will also provide…
Music: PHOX
The amazing seven-piece Wisconsin crew PHOX (who missed MPMF to tour with Blitzen Trapper) is headed to MOTR Pub Monday, half of a great double bill with San Francisco Psych Rock/Shoegaze outfit (and MPMF alum) Sleepy Sun. The wonderfully eclectic PHOX appears on the verge on very big things; seems like everyone who hears the…
Unknown Hinson
Psychobilly guitarist, singer and “The Kang” of redneck vampire couture Unknown Hinson returns to the Southgate House Revival this week after a tumultuous year. Hinson retired last November, citing the usual ails of the music business. But there was more to the story. The personality known as Unknown Hinson is portrayed by Stuart Danny Baker,…
Event: The City Flea Small Mall
Holiday shopping is a hassle. It usually means heading to the mall and wading your way through seas of other shoppers while “Jingle Bell Rock” plays for the 40th time in the background. Or, if you decide to take a more local route, it means brushing up on your parallel parking skills and driving around…
Event: Girls on the Run Fall 5k
Lace up and get your daughters registered for this fall run. For grades 3-8, this unique 5k at Sawyer Point is another program in the nonprofit Girls on the Run series of events that work to challenge and encourage young girls to focus on their individuality, strength, joy and confidence. The walk is open to…
Event: International Games Day
Head down to your local library to try your hand at board games, electronic games, card games and games for all ages during International Games Day. Libraries across the United States and around the world will be playing all day, so join in as gamers unite across the globe. No matter what your favorite game…
Event: Latin American Culture Fest
Explore Latin and Hispanic culture at the Cincinnati Museum Center as part of the museum’s Passport to the World Series. The Latin American Culture Fest features a Salsa dance party, an art workshop where you can create your own skeleton calavera for Dios de los Muertos, a Latin marketplace and much more. Lectures and other…
Comedy: Sheryl Underwood
Comedian Sheryl Underwood’s delivery can be crude sometimes, especially considering she holds two master’s degrees, “I got caught in bed with my best friend’s man,” she tells an audience. “And the bitch gonna get mad at me. ‘Sheryl watcha doing?’ I said ‘Bitch, I’m trying to help you. He said if he doesn’t get some…
Event: Lentz and Company Grand Opening
Full-time artist and graduate of SpringBoard’s entrepreneur class, Leigh Ann Lentz, opens her vintage shop in Clifton’s Gaslight District Friday. Lentz’s personal taste gravitates toward midcentury modern, but visitors can expect vintage home goods and furniture plus a carefully curated collection of kitsch. Lentz will also feature the work of Cincinnati-based artists and crafters, so…
Holiday: Greater Cincinnati Holiday Market
The Greater Cincinnati Holiday Market brings one-of-a-kind boutiques and specialty stores from the region together for an exciting gift buying experience. Shoppers can take home unique gourmet foods, home décor, clothing and accessories along with other fun gifts for friends and family. The Cincy Specialty Food & Treats show will also be there with snacks…
Art: Festival of Cartoon Art
Every three years, Ohio State University in Columbus celebrates the Festival of Cartoon Art because the school is the repository for the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, home of the world’s largest collection of cartoon and comic art. This year’s event is special because the library/museum is celebrating its newly expanded home at Sullivant…
Classes: Turkey with a Twist
The Cooking School at Jungle Jim’s presents a class that takes a classic taste and adds a twist. Featuring a full menu of leftover turkey dishes, “Turkey With a Twist,” led by Janet Hontanosas, will keep the Thanksgiving feast going well into the weekend with dishes like curried turkey and pearl couscous salad and turkey…
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight Yoakam is an enormously influential figure for rescuing ’80s-era, Nashville, Tenn.,-based commercial Country music from its reliance on cloyingly familiar, Pop-oriented musical clichés and boring, hack storytelling truisms. Born in Pikeville, Ky., and raised in Columbus, Ohio, he loved the real older Country — artists like Buck Owens, Hank Williams, Johnny Horton and more…
Trampled by Turtles
Trampled by Turtles is another band in the Alt Folk movement manned by rockers who decided to dabble in acoustic music as a change of pace and found so much success with it that it stuck. Hailing from Minnesota, the group has become a darling of the Mumford & Sons/The Avett Brothers wing of the…
Parking Plan Called Off
Mayor-elect John Cranley, the newly elected City Council and the Greater Cincinnati Port Authority on Tuesday agreed to eliminate the city’s plan to lease its parking meters, lots and garages to the Port Authority once newly elected officials take office in December. But it remains unclear how much it will cost to terminate the plan,…
Justin Moore
Country music is bursting at the seams with hot, young men, but Justin Moore isn’t just another name soon to fade away. He’s the real thing and he’s here to stay. Moore’s music defines him as your average good ol’ boy. He has a rowdy side that comes out in songs like “I Could…
Stepdad
Stepdad is a prime example of how to organically grow a band. Now based in Grand Rapids, Mich., the group began in Chicago circa 2009 as an Electro Pop duo, when roommates Ryan McCarthy and Mark Tafel — doing business as “ultramark” — found common musical ground and began writing songs together. After relocating to…
Onstage: The Complete History of Comedy (Abridged)
The wacky troupe that condensed the works of Shakespeare, the Bible, American history and more is at it again. The Reduced Shakespeare Company returns to the Cincinnati Playhouse to explore the evolution of comedy from cavemen telling “rock-rock” jokes all the way to Chris Rock. One of the creators, Austin Tichenor, says, “Comedy isn’t brain…
Gannett Weekly Loses Appeal in Defamation Suit
A Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals judge has denied the Milford-Miami Advertiser's request to appeal a 2012 ruling that charged the Gannett-owned suburban weekly with defamation and ordered the paper to pay the defamed plaintiff $100,000 in damages. In an article published in the Advertiser on May 27, 2010 titled "Cop's suspension called best move…
Cincinnatians: Awesome at Drinking Beer Since at Least 1879
In 1879, the New York Times published an article titled: "How Cincinnati Beer is Drunk at Home: Some rather remarkable stories about the capacity of the Ohio stomach," which told amazing tales of expert Queen City beer drinkers and just how much an average Cincinnatian can drink in a day (several kegs). The article starts…
Streetcar Supporters Launch Campaign to Save Project
Dozens of residents and business owners gathered in Over-the-Rhine on Tuesday to launch a campaign that seeks to persuade Mayor-elect John Cranley and the newly elected City Council to support the $133 million streetcar project. Attendees included Ryan Messer, who used his life savings to renovate his home in Over-the-Rhine; Derek Bauman, co-chair of Cincinnatians…
Music Tonight: The Lone Bellow and The Sweep
• With a Country music base, Rock edge, R&B-inspired three-part harmonies and catchy but emotionally weighty songs, Brooklyn’s The Lone Bellow emerged in 2013 as one of the next potential Americana breakthrough artists. The trio’s well received, self-titled debut — featuring songs written by frontman Zach Williams to help him deal with a tragic horse-riding…
A Chorus Line (Review)
Critic's Pick A Chorus Line is a powerful show. Back in 1975 it won nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize. It ran on for more than 6,000 performances on Broadway for nearly 15 years. In London it was onstage for 30 years. The show is fundamentally the story of 16 dancers auditioning for a…
Morning News and Stuff
The Cincinnati police officer who struck a pedestrian with his cruiser on Saturday was apparently driving 50 mph in a 25 mph zone, which violates the Cincinnati Police Department's guidelines that limit officers from driving more than 20 mph above the posted limit. Officer Orlando Smith was responding to a call to help an officer…
4EG Hosts Party for Their Four Roses Private Label Bourbon
4EG entertainment group's bar Igby's (122 E. Sixth St., Downtown) is hosting a launch party for their very own Four Roses private label bourbon on Tuesday. Igby's and The Lackman (1237 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine) visited the Four Roses distillery in Lawrenceburg, Ky., on Sept. 10 of this year and specially select their very own barrel of Four Roses bourbon. The barrel,…
Boeing Boeing (Review)
Critic's Pick Boeing Boeing, a bedroom farce by Marc Camoletti, enjoyed a seven-year run in London’s West End after its 1962 premiere. A revival in 2008 won a Tony Award in New York City. In the hands of The Carnegie Theatre Series and CCM Drama, it is easy to see why. This winning partnership brings…
Morning News and Stuff
As of Friday, Cincinnati’s winter shelter still needs $43,000 out of the $75,000 required to open from late December through February. That means hundreds of homeless people could be left out in the cold — literally — for at least a month longer than usual if the shelter doesn’t get more donations. According to Spring,…
The Many Twitter Faces of John Cranley
John Cranley had only a few unsullied hours of golden time on social media to celebrate his mayoral win on Wednesday before he became the subject of at least two Twitter accounts created solely to troll him, and they're worth a follow if you'd describe your sense of humor as somewhat to very immature or…
Winter Shelter Still Needs $43,000
Cincinnati’s winter shelter for the homeless might not be able to open until mid-January if it doesn’t get more contributions, says Josh Spring, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition. That means hundreds of homeless people could be left out in the cold — literally — for at least a month longer than usual…
WATCH: The MidPoint Sessions featuring The Ridges
Besides the official music showcases at September’s MidPoint Music Festival, the 12th annual fest featured the most (and best) “satellite events” in MPMF history. These “unofficial” happenings — ranging from “day parties” to various musical presentations, like the free performances at Findlay Market — greatly added to the electricity MPMF brought to Downtown and Over-the-Rhine.…
Faces without Places Chili Cook-off
The Northside Tavern is hosting the sixth annual Faces without Places chili cook-off. Faces without Places is a local nonprofit focused on removing barriers to education for children experiencing homelessness. The family-friendly chili party will feature live music by Murray & Company, a kids craft area, raffles, door prizes, the Bengals on TV and, of…
Music Tonight: Drive-By Truckers, The Features and More
• Tonight at Covington’s Madison Theater you can catch two of the the best and most influential Roots Rock bands of the past 20 years. Drive-By Truckers and Old 97’s might not have had the expansive, obvious influence of, say, Wilco or My Morning Jacket (who also joined forces to tour this year, joined by…
City Considering Around-the-Clock Work on Streetcar
Officials working on the $133 million streetcar project are considering taking up extra shifts to speed up delivery of new rail and minimize disruptions caused by construction, project executive John Deatrick told CityBeat on Friday. If it goes as planned, the extra shifts would reduce the time needed to deliver and install rails around Findlay…
Stage Door: Choices Galore
I had occasion to be in downtown Dayton on business earlier this week and thought I'd stay for the evening to catch the Human Race Theatre Company's production of Fiddler on the Roof at the Loft Theatre. It's not a space you'd immediately think of for this often large-scale show, but director Kevin Moore has…
Help a Cincinnati Small Business Win a $250,000 Grant
Cincinnati-area businesses only have a few more days left to garner enough votes to enter the running to win a slice of $3 million Chase Bank will award to 12 small businesses across the country. Chase's Mission Main Street Grants program is designed to help small businesses grow. Although the registration deadline has passed, there…
Morning News and Stuff
A small group of Over-the-Rhine homeowners is preparing for a possible lawsuit and other actions should Mayor-elect John Cranley try to cancel the $133 million streetcar project. Ryan Messer says the fight is about protecting his family’s investment along the streetcar route. Streetcar supporters plan to host a town hall-style meeting in the coming weeks…
This Could Be Ohio’s New State Country Song
For whatever reason, Americans deem it a necessary source of pride for us to award the states we live in all sorts of symbolic attributes, such as an official state amphibian (Ohio: spotted salamander), official state muffin (Minnesota: blueberry) or an official state "sport" (Maryland: walking?). And Oklahoma's unofficial state sport is apparently obesity —…
Cincinnati Gay and Lesbian Center to Close Doors
In two days, the physical space that's housed Cincinnati's Gay and Lesbian Community Center for the past 20 years will be vacant, but the organization won't disappear entirely. Instead, the Center will become a completely virtual informational resource for the region's LGBT community and act as a funding resource for other Cincinnati organizations. The Center…
State to Evaluate Existing Transit Systems
While Cincinnati’s $133 million streetcar project remains in limbo , the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is taking a deep look at the state’s existing transit systems to encourage more efficiency and cost effectiveness. Specifically, ODOT says the “Ohio Statewide Transit Needs Study” is necessary to evaluate the performance of different transit systems around the…
Music Tonight: GWAR and The Horse’s Ha
• Mega Monster Metal superstars GWAR return to Bogart’s in Corryville tonight for a 7:30 p.m., all-ages show. “Earth’s only openly extra-terrestrial rock band” formed in the mid-’80s, developed an over-the-top live show that makes a KISS concert look like a children’s Halloween party (with B-movie horror film theatrics that look straight outta Troma) and…
Morning News and Stuff
Mayor-elect John Cranley laid out his plans and priorities for his first term at his first press conference yesterday. Cranley says two of his top priorities are undoing the $133 million streetcar project and parking plan, which would lease the city’s parking meters, lots and garages to the Greater Cincinnati Port Authority. He also spoke…
Mayor-Elect Explains Vision for First Term
Mayor-elect John Cranley invited reporters to his home in Mt. Lookout on Wednesday to discuss his plan and priorities for his first term as mayor of Cincinnati. Cranley claims the invitation to his house represents the kind of accessible, transparent leadership he’ll take up when he begins his term on Dec. 1. Speaking on his…
Cincinnati’s Trivia Nights
Nerds tend to gravitate toward other nerds because it's okay to talk about things like Star Wars, city referendums and why Apple products are superior to anything that is not an Apple product. Social drinkers tend to like hanging out with other social drinkers so that everyone's jokes seem funnier and it feels OK to…
Streetcar’s Fate Still Unknown
City officials on Wednesday reasserted that it remains unknown how much it would cost to cancel the $133 million streetcar project, and city spokesperson Meg Olberding and project executive John Deatrick agreed the unknown costs are a big concern. Voters on Tuesday elected John Cranley to the mayor’s office and six council members — out…
Music Tonight: Jus Post Bellum, Dar Williams and More
• Brooklyn Indie Folk quartet Jus Post Bellum comes to Over-the-Rhine's MOTR Pub tonight for a free, 10 p.m. show with local headliners Young Heirlooms. Inspired by traditional American Roots, Blues and Country music, as well as modern Folk, the Civil War and American history in general, Jus Post Bellum (latin for "justice after war")…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
One good thing about Halloween falling on a Thursday is that we get two weekends of celebrity costumes to dissect. Heidi Klum always pulls out the stops for Halloween, hosting a major bash every year. And her costumes are always over-the-top. This year is no different, though Heidi wasn’t dressed in a crazy cyborg suit…
Britney: Torture or Gospel?
HOT Torture or Gospel? Judging from a pair of recent headlines, Britney Spears’ status as a pop cultural icon is stronger than ever. A merchant navy officer recently revealed that blasting the singer’s music was the go-to deterrent used for keeping Somali pirates away from oil tankers on the African coast. Meanwhile, SPEARS: The Gospel…
Ohio Gay Couples Can Now Jointly File for Federal Taxes
The Ohio Department of Taxation last week released separate tax forms that will allow gay couples who live in the state but got married in another state to jointly file for taxes at the federal level. But because of Ohio’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, same-sex couples won’t be able to jointly file for taxes…
Enquirer Circulation Declines
Many of Ohio’s major newspapers, including The Cincinnati Enquirer, lost thousands of readers in the past year, but some managed to beat trends and gain in certain categories, according to a circulation audit from the Alliance for Audited Media. The audit found The Enquirer’s average daily circulation, which excludes Saturday and Sunday, down to 117,754…
Council Members Propose Funding to Ease Racial Disparities
Councilman Wendell Young and five other council members signed a motion Oct. 30 that asks the city administration to budget $2 million to address racial disparities in Cincinnati. The motion cites three statistical disparities: infant mortality rates for black babies are three times the rate for white babies; the unemployment rate for black residents is…
Supreme Court Expedites Medicaid Expansion Case
The Ohio Supreme Court on Oct. 31 expedited the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law’s challenge against the federally funded Medicaid expansion, which Republican Gov. John Kasich pushed through the Controlling Board, a seven-member legislative panel, despite resistance from the Ohio legislature. The case will decide whether Kasich was constitutionally allowed to bypass the legislature to…
Helping Veterans with the Healing Power of Music
The nonprofit organization Guitars for Vets has simple origins. In 2007, a guitar teacher in Milwaukee met a Vietnam veteran who was trying to learn guitar but was having difficulties due to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Working together, the two found that learning and playing the guitar was great therapy for PTSD, so they visited…
Cleaning House
I f Chenicka Lynn had a choice, she wouldn’t need to be on food stamps. She wouldn’t be on food stamps and she would have spent Halloween night trick-or-treating with her four children. Instead, she stood with them in the rain outside of the Fourth and Vine building downtown where she works a 40-hour…
Diana
Rather than focus on the hype and hysteria of the public life of Princess Diana (Naomi Watts), director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall, The Invasion) zeroes in on Diana’s final two years, defined in large part by her relationship with Dr. Hasnat Khan (Naveen Andrews). What at first glance looks like a possible revisionist take may simply…
Digging Deep
Ben Knight and the Welldiggers play American music. Kentucky Country music. A noble homage to generations of toil and progress. The songs on the Cincinnati band’s debut release, Divining Rod, are a frighteningly intimate introduction to Ben Knight, the storyteller. He and the Welldiggers earnestly compose new and original tunes that catch your attention with…
Republicans Continue Denying Social Progress
With the support of only seven out of 45 Republican senators, the U.S. Senate on Nov. 4 moved forward with a bill that would ban workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. If that sounds completely uncontroversial, it’s because it is — at least outside of political chambers. The 2013 Ohio…
Capital
The world of investment banking and hostile takeovers provides the setting for writer-director Costa-Gavras’ examination of the dynamic between a newly appointed CEO (Gad Elmaleh) and the American rogue (Gabriel Byrne) in charge of a hedge fund intent on buying out the European bank. With international finance being the hot-button topic it is, Capital looks…
Cincinnati vs. the World 11.06.2013
Jimmy Jenson, 48, became the first runner with Down syndrome to ever complete the New York City Marathon. WORLD +2 A new report from the federal Department of Health and Human Services found that day care providers in Ohio have sometimes been negligent in including sex offender and child abuse registry checks on employees. CINCINNATI…
All Is Lost
The Cornel West Reader, as regular readers know, serves as a touchstone for me. The good professor acknowledges being driven, in his philosophical and academic endeavors, to define three ideas — what it means to be human, modern and American — and the intellectual exercise, from the time I first read about it in his…
About Time
Love is in the air again in the latest film from writer-director Richard Curtis (Love Actually), but this time he’s interested in exploring the multiple facets of the splendored emotional state. An eager-to-be-in-love young man (Domhnall Gleeson) gets a double whammy when he reaches his 21st birthday. His father (the lovely Bill Nighy) introduces him…
Thor: The Dark World
The mighty god-like Avenger (Chris Hemsworth) returns for a second solo outing, facing a foe named Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), an exiled dark elf lord from one of the nine realms, awakened and ready to wreck havoc on Asgard and Midgard (that’s Earth for those of you not familiar with Norse mythology or the Marvel Universe).…
Curmudgeon Notes 11.06.2013
The Student Press Law Center reports on high school student reporters in Cleveland uncovering a big story: “When two high school students walked into their local police station and asked to see a public record, they were given what one of them called ‘the runaround.’ But they stuck it through ’til the end, and that…
Get to the Point
A complete and accurate catalog of the contents lying about, under and atop the bandstand at Schwartz’s Point Jazz Club is a mystery known only to Ed Moss and Jesus. A very partial list includes several small boxes full of unopened CDs; an old chrome free-standing ashtray holding several maracas of varying colors; a three-legged…
CAC Screens a Complex Documentary of Murderous Performance Art
Re-enactments dominate the world of reality television. There is nothing new in the narrative framework of recreating scenes of true events for audiences to grant access to the resonant emotional impact of a situation, a soon-to-be looped moment in time. Sometimes, it is done in the service of memory and perspective. Often the decision to…
Kenny Powers Finds New Niche in “Final” Season
As fans of Eastbound and Down (10 p.m. Sundays, HBO) know, the show, albeit hilarious, delves into some pretty dark waters. Danny McBride’s notorious baseball bad boy Kenny Powers walks the line between making us laugh and raising concern with his seriously disturbed behavior. Beyond the Powers bravado of F-bombs and dick jokes is a…
Cincinnati Cyclones Reach out to Local Community
If the Cincinnati Cyclones had a motto, it would be “Community First.” The professional minor league hockey team has earned plenty of bragging rights, from its two recent Kelly Cup championships to the fact that the team has made the playoffs every season except three since its inception in 1990. What the Cyclones don’t flaunt…
New Book Praises Terrace Plaza as a Cincinnati Modernist Gem
Shawn Patrick Tubb’s Master of Architecture thesis at University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning was to develop a reuse for Downtown’s Modernist landmark, the Terrace Plaza. Except for some arcade-level shops, it had closed to the public as he was beginning his work in 2008. But he decided that to craft…
48 Years a Slave
I’d planned to see 12 Years a Slave but I wasn’t completely ready to see it when we went Saturday night during prime time, middle-class, middle-age date night. Going prematurely to see a movie sure to cause psychic and emotional trauma is like being forced onto a rollercoaster before you’ve psyched yourself up for it:…
Morning News and Stuff
Voters last night elected an anti-streetcar City Council majority and mayor , which raises questions about the $133 million project’s future even as construction remains underway. Ex-Councilman John Cranley, who ran largely on his opposition to the project, easily defeated streetcar supporter Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls 58-42 percent, while non-incumbents Democrat David Mann, Charterite Kevin…
Worst Week Ever!: Oct. 30-Nov. 5
Future Republican Presidential Nominee Watches Sci Fi Film, Says Plot Could Totally Happen While the liberals here at CityBeat prefer the nutty “everything is a conspiracy” brand of Republican politician over the “selectively interpret passages from the Bible to exert social control over a nation founded on the principle of separating state and church” kind,…
Louis Voilà!
I t’s literally midnight in Paris when I reach Maestro Louis Langrée, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s new music director who makes his official debut this weekend at Music Hall. During our conversation (in French), it becomes clear that the CSO’s marketing blast, “Louis + CSO + You,” sums up Langrée’s vision for the orchestra and…
Disturbing the Peace
Two-hundred-fifty-million years ago an estimated billion-ton meteor struck what is now southwestern Ohio and thus the groundwork was laid for the Serpent Mound, the largest effigy mound in the world. The “Serpent” is just two counties to the east from downtown Cincinnati, and contemplating what rural Ohio looked like hundreds-of-millions of years ago is…
