Event: Green Valentines
Head to everyone’s favorite green general store, Park + Vine, to make some upcycled valentines with members of the Imago Earth Center, a grassroots environmental education organization based in Price Hill. Adrian Hawk and Jill Korach will teach you to make upcycled cards, tags, gifts and more. $5 gets you one-on-one instruction, fun supplies and…
Event: Chinese New Year
Eager to celebrate the Year of the Horse in style? Join the folks at Oriental Wok for a nine-course meal to ring in the Chinese New Year this Sunday. (Nine courses, people.) Ensure good luck with great food, a traditional New Year lion dance and entertainment from Chinese artists. 6-9 p.m. Sunday. $75; $25 for…
Event: Luau Lunacy Murder Mystery Dinner
Audience members are treated to dinner — and a murder! Guests at this event will be asked to follow the zany storyline and help figure out “who dunnit?” Dinners contain “suggestive dialogue,” so if you’re not cool with your kid hearing one of George Carlin’s seven dirty words, keep them at home. This Saturday night out…
Art: Joel Whitaker Artist Talk at the Weston Art Gallery
Artist Joel Whitaker, professor in the department of visual arts at the University of Dayton, will discuss his current exhibition Cities at the Weston Art Gallery Saturday. In his series of digital photographs, Whitaker investigates the ebb and flow of the urban environment and the idea of the city as a living organism, utilizing two…
Event: JCC Jewish & Israeli Film Festival
The Mayerson JCC Jewish & Israeli Film Festival will feature some of the best works of Israel’s thriving film industry. In four theater venues — Hebrew Union College, Cinemark Oakley Station, Kenwood Theatre and the Mayerson JCC — over the next three weeks (Feb. 8-27), the 2014 film festival will have a variety of films…
Event: Kaze One-Year Annivesary
Head to OTR’s premier Japanese gastropub to celebrate its first birthday with Tokyo Nights, extended cocktail and sushi happy hours Wednesday-Saturday, culminating with a big anniversary party Saturday night. The party will feature DJs, dancing, giveaways and prizes, including a chance to win lunch for a year, lunch for your office or dinner for two.…
Music: Eilen Jewell with Frontier Folk Nebraska
Eilen Jewell has become an international favorite in just a few short years thanks to her deft ability to combine vintage influences ranging from Blues and Jazz to Folk, Country, Rockabilly and even Surf music. Her unique style of Americana (matched with a mesmerizing vocal approach that has drawn comparisons to Billie Holiday and Bessie…
Event: Jungle Jim’s Big Cheese Festival
Jungle Jim’s is hosting a festival dedicated almost entirely to cheese. Sample cheeses from the world’s finest producers including some of America’s best artisanal cheeses (yes, they exist) from 50 booths, organized by region. There will also be world-class charcuterie and beer and wine pairings to enhance your cheese experience, plus an appearance by Guinness…
Event: Balls Around the Block
Inspired by Cincinnati’s block-by-block evolution, Balls Around The Block (BATB) pub crawl formed when a group of friends decided to discover downtown by drinking their way around it, always turning left into a new bar and never crossing the street. BATB is now a fundraising effort. Last year, this event raised more than $10,000 for…
Event: 50/50 Art Show
Looking to support the local art scene at an affordable cost? The 50/50 Art Show is a wonderful opportunity to do just that. The exhibition and sale will feature 50 artists with pieces for exactly $50 per piece. View the collection early to admire the full exhibition before the pay-and-take sale on Feb. 14. Preview…
Art: Artbeat on Short Vine
Cure gray, cold-weather blahs with bright colors, bright women and convenient gallery hopping Friday during Artbeat on Short Vine. POPP=D ART presents the minimalist, hard-edge style of Tim Gold of Independence, Ky., who draws inspiration from black-and-white photos but paints with bold hues. Then dash across to 71 Gallery for a helping of G.L.O.P. (Great…
Comedy: Doug Stanhope
Cincinnati comedy fans have a rare chance to catch Doug Stanhope in a club setting when he plays Go Bananas this week. The comic, who is never quite sure what direction his show will take, usually plays theaters and rock clubs. Offstage, Stanhope was in the news last year when he spearheaded a fundraiser for…
Event: Cincinnati Beer Week
What’s better than a week of beer and shenanigans? Eight days of beer and shenanigans! The so-named Cincinnati Beer Week — Feb. 6-13 — will be in full force for its third year at bars, restaurants and stores all over Greater Cincinnati. Venues will hold special events for eight days including beer tastings, dinner, trivia,…
Onstage: Revelation
Who knew the End of Days could be so much fun? Untethered Theatre is offering its first 2014 production, the regional premiere of up-and-coming playwright Samuel Brett Williams’ dark comedy Revelation. It’s about a pair of lovers who find the Rapture coming a little too close to home. Brandon is a Southern Baptist; Rebecca is…
Art: Common Surprise: Celebrating the Diversity of Black Artists in Cincinnati
Follow a cue from Antonio Adams’ series of visionary highway paintings and take the off-ramp (Exit 6 off I-71 in this case) to Common Surprise: Celebrating the Diversity of Black Artists in Cincinnati. This exhibit recognizes a range of subjects and techniques employed by local African-American artists. Adams, Monique Brent, Cedric Michael Cox, Vince Gray,…
Four Things the Anti-Science Crowd Denies
Bill Nye the Science Guy and Creation Museum founder Ken Ham will engage in a so-called “debate” tonight over evolution and biblical creationism, even though the scientific evidence rules out any possibility of Nye losing on the facts of evolution. Although the scientific evidence is clear, evolution remains a contentious conflict in the United States…
REVIEW: Black Owls’ ‘Wild Children’
If you are even a marginal fan of Black Owls (whose members split time between Cincinnati and Granville, Ohio) and have not yet visited their Bandcamp page to purchase a copy of their recent recorded triumph, Wild Children (which came out late last year), off with you. I'll wait. The Owls' fourth album is nothing less than the maturation…
Morning News and Stuff
Mayor John Cranley, Chief Jeffrey Blackwell and other city officials yesterday announced a police plan to put more cops on the streets, focus on “hot spots” of crime, restart the gang unit and reach out to youth. Blackwell acknowledged more cops alone won’t solve or prevent the city’s heightened levels of violent crimes and homicides,…
‘Downton Abbey’ Season Four, Episode Five
Upstairs: My gosh, the tiff between the Dowager Countess and Lady Isobel Crawley gains more headway with every episode. Maggie Smith, who I have a fantastical appreciation for, never fails to captivate the Downton audience, especially when she’s acting like a stern old bat, which is all the time. She says things like, “simply ghastly”…
Cooking Classes and Dining Events
COOKING CLASSES AND DINING EVENTS Most classes and events require registration; many sell out. WEDNESDAY 22 Peruvian Cooking Class — Chef Julie Francis and sous chef Amanda Bowman teach participants how to prepare traditional fish and vegetable ceviche and tiradito. 6-9 p.m. $75. Nectar, 1000 Delta Ave., Mount Lookout, 513-929-0525, dineatnectar.com. THURSDAY 23 Hands-On Cedar Planked…
WATCH: The 2014 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards
Last Sunday's Cincinnati Entertainment Awards show — which featured 19 awards for local musicians and nine top-notch performances — is available to watch now courtesy of the fine folks at ICRCTV. Now's your chance to watch, in the comfort of your home, the show about which people have said was "fun," "blerg," "entertaining," "disappointing," "amateurish,"…
Broadway in Cincinnati Announces 2014-15 Season
Broadway in Cincinnati today is announcing its 2014-2015 season, which will bring back The Lion King for a month-long run in April 2015 as well as the 2012 Tony Award winner, Once, which has a two week run in mid-November 2014. Lion King had a record-breaking engagement at the downtown Cincinnati’s Aronoff Center in 2007,…
City Unveils Plan to Add More Cops
City officials on Monday announced a new public safety initiative that promises to put more cops on the streets, focus on “hot spots” of crime, restart the gang unit and do more to reach out to youth. The comprehensive plan comes after a rough start to the year, with homicides and violent crime ticking up…
Morning News and Stuff
Mayor John Cranley, Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffery Blackwell and several other local leaders expect to announce a $1 million plan to add more cops, including a new recruit class, to help fight a local rise in homicides and violent crime. Besides the additional officers, the plan will also restart a unit focused on gangs and…
Morning News and Stuff
Mayor John Cranley plans to address long-term unemployment in Cincinnati with several new initiatives, some of which could get support from the White House, he told CityBeat yesterday. According to Cranley, the idea is to end employer discrimination against the long-term unemployed or land the long-term unemployed into jobs to end the job-crippling gap in…
Stage Door: Full Weekend
Lots of plays not previously seen in Cincinnati are good theater choices this weekend: Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati just opened its regional premiere of Tribes by Nina Raines on Wednesday, and I've given it a Critic's Pick. The story circles around two young adults from families with very different approaches to deafness. Billy's family has tried to…
Cranley to Talk Long-Term Unemployment at White House
Mayor John Cranley plans to address the city’s long-term unemployment problems with a set of new initiatives, some of which could get support from the White House, he told CityBeat Thursday. One of the initiatives is in direct response to President Barack Obama’s call, heard by millions during the State of the Union Tuesday, to…
February Local Beer Events
Cincinnatians are swooning this February and no, not over candy hearts, roses and candlelit dinners for two, but for our utmost affection for beer. Cupid struck beer-lovers’ hearts this season, causing us to fall head-over-heels (literally) for craft beer celebrations. With our rich German brewing history alive in Over-the-Rhine and beyond, it’s no surprise that…
Morning News and Stuff
For some, Dennis McGuire’s 26-minute, seemingly painful execution raises constitutional and ethical questions about Ohio’s use of the death penalty. In particular, the convicted killer’s family and medical experts say the state’s use of a new cocktail of drugs presented problems even before McGuire was killed, with one Harvard professor of anesthesia warning the state…
City to Break Ground on New Anna Louise Inn Location
City leaders will break ground Thursday for the Anna Louise Inn’s new location at Mount Auburn. The start of construction begins the next phase for the Anna Louise Inn and owner Cincinnati Union Bethel (CUB) after a failed legal battle against financial giant Western & Southern forced the Inn to move. CUB sought to keep…
County Accepts Mount Airy Facility for Crime Lab
Hamilton County commissioners on Wednesday announced they will accept a Mount Airy facility offered to the county as a gift by Catholic Health Partners, opening the door to a new county crime lab at the location. The acceptance comes despite lingering uncertainties about whether the Board of Elections will also move to the former hospital…
Waxahatchee with Tweens
In an interview with Pitchfork shortly before the release of her second album under the moniker Waxahatchee, this fascinating bit of information was revealed about Katie Crutchfield’s bedroom decor: “There is a Dolly Parton poster to the left, a Pussy Galore poster to the right and a wall of cassettes, vinyl and books.” That brief…
Willie Nile with Jefferson Gizzard
Americana has tended to be a home for Alternative Country performers with Southern or Western roots, and also introspective Folk troubadours who favor a quiet, often-acoustic approach. But it’s also becoming a haven for a certain kind of veteran rocker — Northeast urban with a tuneful yet powerful guitar-based sound heavily influenced by the lyrically…
Tear Out the Heart with Palisades, Famous Last Words, One Last Look, So Many Ways, Death of a Poet, A Liar’s Eyes, Witness and This Fragile Future
From the name, you can guess that Tear Out the Heart (TOTH) won’t be opening for One Direction on their next Stateside tour. At the same time, beyond the stereotypical shrieked dirty vocal affectation, speed riffs, double-clutched drumming (via Matt Epstein’s blurred hands and feet) and thunderous chugs and breakdowns (courtesy of intertwined guitarists Josh…
Henhouse Prowlers with Blue Caboose
Chicago is the home base of the Henhouse Prowlers, a group with a modern outlook when it comes to Bluegrass, injecting an open-minded approach into many of their tunes while still ripping a traditional groove on others. The group’s latest album is called Breaking Ground, produced by Chi-town Bluegrass legend Greg Cahill. The Prowlers are…
Grammy Haters, RELAX!
HOT Grammy Haters, RELAX! Open up your social media feeds from Jan. 26 and you’ll learn that this year’s Grammys were a crime against music and all involved should be executed. But if you actually watched the performances not for the purposes of taking a shit all over them so your friends think you’re hip…
Panama Canal Centennial & More on Shield Laws
In the midst of all of the harumphing about this month’s chemical spill into a tributary of the Ohio River and the nine-county ban on tap water for days, NPR recorded a West Virginian saying, “Without water, we’re up a creek without a paddle.” • Speaking of water, here’s a centennial to celebrate: The U.S. Army Corps…
New Afghan Whigs Album Due This Spring
Last month, one of the greatest, most influential Rock bands to come out of the Cincinnati music scene, The Afghan Whigs, announced their return to the concert stage at this year’s Coachella festival in April, following a successful and extensive world tour in 2012, the band’s first dates in more than a decade. Last week,…
The Union
It’s like this: In early 2017, about three years from right now, we (or some of us) will be heralding the victorious outcome of the dirty, bare-knuckled election of Hillary Rodham Clinton who may drop her maiden/middle name during her campaign to capitalize once and for all on the name-brand recognition of her miraculously forgiven…
Moment of Clarity
“Cover Me Up,” the somber opening song on Jason Isbell’s latest album, Southeastern, includes this revealing lyric: “I sobered up and I swore off that stuff, forever this time.” It’s nearly impossible to hear him sing those words and not take them as a first-person confession, for after years of heavy drinking, Isbell was compelled…
Report: Reading Proficiency Falls With Income
Ohio’s lower-income fourth-graders were much more likely than higher-income fourth-graders to fall below reading proficiency standards in 2013, according to a report released Jan. 28 by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Four in five lower-income fourth-graders were declared below reading proficiency standards in 2013, the report found. Only 48 percent of higher-income fourth-graders fell below…
Ohio House Moves to Allow Armed Teachers in Schools
The Republican-controlled Ohio House on Jan. 22 approved a bill that would allow school boards to designate some school employees to carry concealed firearms and prohibit school boards from releasing the names of those employees. As part of the designation, school employees would have to participate in “active shooter training” established by the state attorney…
Early Voting Could Move From Downtown to Suburbs
The Hamilton County Board of Elections on Jan. 27 split along party lines over whether the board should move its offices and early voting from downtown to Mount Airy, where only one bus line runs. The two Democrats on the board dispute the move. They claim it would make voting less accessible to voters who…
Media Should End Reliance on “He Says, She Says”
The media does a terrible job explaining public policies, and one of the major causes is reporters’ reliance on “he says, she says” and faux authority figures who really have no business drilling into wonky policy debates. A recent example: Ohio’s debate over whether teachers and school employees should be able to arm themselves. In…
That Awkward Moment
Romantic comedy screenwriters want us to believe that love is full of cute challenges, those inconsequential moments blown out of proportion, awaiting simple, declarative resolutions on the pathway to a happily ever after scenario (that now leads to a sequel with more of the same). We all know from personal experience that this formula has…
A Cruel and Unusual Death
According to observations made by multiple witnesses of the Jan. 16 execution of Dennis McGuire, the Ohioan might have been alert and in excruciating pain during his death by lethal injection. McGuire’s execution was for the 1989 rape and murder of 22-year-old Joy Stewart, who was pregnant at the time of her death. Despite the…
Super Bowl Fun for the Football Illiterate
The Super Bowl has evolved from a football championship game to an annual popular culture event. Even people who aren’t sports fans host Super Bowl parties and watch for the big-budget halftime performances (this year it’s Bruno Mars and Red Hot Chili Peppers) and some of the most entertaining commercials of the year. So it…
Bodice-Ripping Melodrama Spoils ‘Labor Day’
Whip-smart dark comedy has been a signature thus far in the career of writer-director Jason Reitman, who kicked things off by skewering the marketing/promotional efforts of the tobacco industry (and American society as a whole) in Thank You for Smoking. He followed that up by helming screenwriter Diablo Cody’s Oscar-winning sassy teen pregnancy dramedy Juno,…
Upcoming Art Shows Have Great Promise
With a winter like this, there’s only one thing you can do — put aside all thoughts about the cold cruelty of brutal nature and look toward something better and more caring: human-made art. Below is a list of some of the more promising art shows of 2014 — both home and away. Here are…
Pluto (Review)
Know Theatre is presently staging Steve Yockey’s new play Pluto, the second of four “rolling world premieres.” The work is not easy to describe, to watch or to like. That’s not to say it’s not worth seeing — but it’s challenging. Yockey’s script crosses wires between reality and fantasy. Annie Fitzpatrick plays anxious, high-strung Elizabeth,…
Clybourne Park (Review)
Critic's Pick Bruce Norris’ award-winning Clybourne Park (Tony, Olivier and Pulitzer Prize) employs clever writing and vivid characters to aim squarely at issues such as racism and intolerance that we might think we have moved beyond. It’s a smartly crafted work, one of the most-produced plays across America this season, including at the Cincinnati Playhouse,…
Morning News and Stuff
President Barack Obama delivered the State of the Union speech yesterday, outlining an ambitious progressive agenda that will be largely ignored and rebuked by Congress. But Obama promised at least seven major policies that he can pursue without legislators, including a $10.10-per-hour minimum wage for federal contractors and some action on global warming. Obama’s full…
Revelation (Review)
On a cold Friday night, Untethered Theatre opened Samuel Brett Williams’ Revelation to a packed and receptive house in the Clifton Performance Theatre (CPT), a home they share with Clifton Players. It’s an amazement to see how both companies use this tiny space innovatively. Revelation is a humorous, 70-minute one-act that explores love in the…
Top 10 CEA Behind-the-Scenes Secrets
The CEAs are a much bigger production than people might assume, and while it might appear that some of us up there were winging it at times (definitely true), we think that’s part of what makes the event great — allowing space for musicians, presenters and hosts to contribute creativity and fun to the experience.…
Total Immersion
R achel Kushner’s The Flamethrowers is rightly being hailed as one the of the best novels in recent memory, a deeply immersive book marked by incisive cultural observations and a vividly descriptive prose style that is drawing comparisons to everyone from Flaubert to Don DeLillo. Its narrative centers on Reno, a 22-year-old woman who somewhat…
That’s Entertainment
F or the first time in CityBeat’s 17-year history of producing the annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, honoring the music makers of the Greater Cincinnati music scene, the show was booked on the same night as a certain other music awards program — The Grammys. While the CEAs lacked a Metallica/Lang Lang power jam and Taylor…
