Waiting for Godot (Review)
Critic's Pick Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett’s “tragicomedy in two acts,” has bewildered many theatergoers since its premiere in 1953. At the same time, it has been revered as perhaps the greatest play of the 20th century. In his review of its first Broadway staging, New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson described the play as…
Music: Borgore
To say that Israeli Electronic Dance producer/DJ Borgore has a broad range would be the understatement of the ages. Borgore (born Asaf Yoseph Borger in Tel Aviv) began his musical journey as a music school student before a brief stint seven years ago as the drummer for Shabira, that rarest of musical entities, an Israeli…
Music: Carlene Carter with John Mellencamp
Mother Maybelle Carter was a member of the Carter Family, whose infamous 1927 recordings in Bristol, Tenn., (along with Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Alfred Reed and others) brought Country music to the masses. Later in life, Maybelle would record and tour with her daughters, including June, who would go onto marry Johnny Cash. Before June Carter…
Music: American Originals with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
What could be better than a night with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra doing Stephen Foster classics? Uh, how about when they’re joined by the likes of Rosanne Cash, Cincinnati’s own Over the Rhine, Dom Flemons and Aoife O’Donovan? Dubbed “American Originals,” the Pops will endeavor to entertain fans with three nights of some of the…
Music: The Delta Saints
Few band names capture a group’s essence like “Delta Saints” fits this crew. “It’s rootsy,” frontman Ben Ringel told Raleigh, N.C.’s News Observer last year. “It sounds like we’re a Delta-based band, with very much a New Orleans rock-and-roll sound.” You can hear that in just the three songs on The Delta Saints’ 2014 EP,…
Music: Pike 27
The reanimation of Pike 27 is one of the most unlikely and welcomed Cincinnati-area band reunions in recent history (perhaps second only to The Warsaw Falcons’ recent resurrection). Few saw it coming, but many hoped for it, including the band’s dedicated fans and its creatively restless frontman Dave Purcell. Given his continued songwriting/performing pursuits during…
Film: National Gallery
The year 2014 has been such a good one for feature films about the visual arts — both fictional and documentaries — that its offerings just won’t end. Even after Tim’s Vermeer, Finding Vivian Maier, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Art and Craft, Big Eyes and more have already played here, other art films considered 2014…
Art: Based on a True Story at the CAC
In their exhibition Based on a True Story — curated by Steven Matijcio — Duke Riley and Frohawk Two Feathers proffer their own epic narratives. Wrestling historic imagery from the grips of hegemonic obsolescence, Riley and Frohawk weave them into a sprawling web of stories about a very different kind of protagonist — one who…
Onstage: The Handmaid’s Tale
Joe Stollenwerk lives in Bloomington, Ind., where he’s pursuing a doctorate in theater at Indiana University. He was part of the Cincinnati theater scene for more than a decade as a performer and the original artistic director of the Ovation Theatre Company, which shut down in 2008. He worked with lots of performers, including Cincinnati…
Onstage: Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash
In the same sense that it takes a village to raise a child, it appears that it takes a crowd to tell the story of Johnny Cash. At least that’s the case with the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s production of Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash. Jason Edwards is the driving force behind…
Downhome Shakespeare
In the same sense that it takes a village to raise a child, it appears that it takes a crowd to tell the story of Johnny Cash. At least that’s the case with the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s production of Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash. (It will be presented on the…
Film: Sign Painters: The Movie
Hand-painted signs — you pass them just about everywhere you go, weathered by time and full of tradition. What was once a common job is now a highly specialized craft, struggling in the face of technological advances. And Sign Painters, directed by Faythe Levine and Sam Macon, discusses the trade of hand-painted sign making, with…
Event: Black to the Future: Afrofuturistic Music
Afrofuturism is a term coined in the early ’90s to describe a cultural/artistic concept that uses futuristic, science fiction-like elements (among other devices) to explore and critique African-American issues and ideals from the past up through present times. Afrofuturistic approaches can be found in literature and a variety of forms of artistic expression, including in…
Onstage: Tango Buenos Aires: Song of Eva Peron
You don’t have to love spicy food to love spicy dance. Tango Buenos Aires, the incredible, globally recognized dance company fresh out of Argentina, brings you Song of Eva Peron, a fast and furious feast for the eyes. Based on the tragic tale of the most famous woman in Argentinian history, the production dances her rise from…
Event: Chef’s Table: The Rookwood with Chef Jackson Rouse
Not a Brussels sprouts kinda guy? Prepare to be converted by The Rookwood chef Jackson Rouse during Monday’s Meet the Chef night at New Riff Distillery. Enjoy his beautifully caramelized sprouts with Spanish chorizo and date vinegar alongside the rest of his carefully paired tasting menu, which includes braised chicken thighs, Moroccan spiced kaboucha squash…
Event: Park + Vine Chili Cook-Off
Chili is Cincinnati’s signature food, even for vegans, and Park + Vine’s annual chili cook-off has something for all chili heads. Though the opportunity to enter your own four quarts of home-cooked vegan chili into the competition has passed, you can still participate in the event by purchasing a tasting ticket. Judge amongst yourselves for…
Event: Women Helping Women Sunday Salon
Women Helping Women, the local nonprofit dedicated to serving survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, opens its yearly Sunday Salon series with “Lumenocity: Behind the Scenes of a City Inspired.” Sunday Salons are an opportunity to hear a variety of speakers on topics ranging from food and art to history and cinema, hosted…
Music: Deru at the Contemporary Arts Center
The Contemporary Arts Center’s Performance series programming for 2015 gets underway when Emmy Award-winning composer/sound designer/producer Deru (Benjamin Wynn) performs the compositions from his album 1979, which was inspired by a time capsule he found at a flea market. A concept album, performance and sculptural object in one, the presentation includes layered electronic tracks and…
Event: Bootleggers & Bourbon: Dinner & Tasting
February’s Cincinnati Beer week is just around the corner, but bourbon drinkers — now is the time. American Legacy Tours’ Bootleggers & Bourbon: Dinner & Tasting takes participants on a journey back to the bootlegging days of Newport, Ky. The two-hour event includes a bourbon tasting and a seated dinner to complement the plethora of…
Event: CCM’s A Moveable Feast
It’s time to surround yourself with talent and eat to the point of no return during the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) fundraiser “A Movable Feast.” This city favorite showcases the works of CCM students from all disciplines — musical theater, piano, opera, drama, dance, orchestral performance and more — celebrating the theme "ONECCM:…
Art: Joyce Phillips Young Gallery Talk at the Weston Art Gallery
Painter, muralist, arts educator and advocate Joyce Phillips Young will discuss her current exhibition of intricate, colorful and abstracted figurative paintings at the Weston Art Gallery, Spirit Moves, with gallery-goers Thursday. The retired Cincinnati Public Schools teacher was raised in the progressive college town of Yellow Springs, Ohio, and her early exposure to models of…
Comedy: Guy Torry
Even though his older brother Joe had become a standup comic, Guy Torry had no plans to follow suit when he got out of school. “I didn’t really get into it in college,” he says. “I was the campus clown, but I really didn’t know that standup was a profession until I arrived in Los…
Onstage: Greater Tuna
If you hail from a small town, you’ll recognize the shenanigans of the oddballs who populate this tried-and-true comedy. Two actors portray 20 characters, male and female, young and old, in Tuna, the “third smallest town in Texas.” Even if you’re not from somewhere with no traffic lights and one radio station, you’ll be amused…
Apothecary-Themed Cocktail Bar to Open in OTR
If there's one thing we like in Over-the-Rhine, it's enjoying a bit of updated history while we dine and drink. And that's what proprietors Stuart King and Julia Petiprin aim to bring to the corner of 13th and Republic streets with their new apothecary-themed cocktail bar. While the name has yet to be revealed, the…
Apothecary-Themed Cocktail Bar to Open in OTR
If there's one thing we like in Over-the-Rhine, it's enjoying a bit of updated history while we dine and drink. And that's what proprietors Stuart King and Julia Petiprin aim to bring to the corner of 13th and Republic streets with their new apothecary-themed cocktail bar. While the name has yet to be revealed, the…
Morning News and Stuff
Welp, here’s the thing. You may well be reading this on your smartphone as you sit motionless in traffic on the interstate. And if that’s the case, you probably already know about what I’m going to say next. I offer my sympathies. The big news this morning is that a large section of the old…
Morning News and Stuff
Hello all! Happy Monday. It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. day, and there are a number of things going on around the city in commemoration of the civil rights leader, including a march from The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to Fountain Square at 10 a.m. and a ceremony at Music Hall at noon. This is…
Orchids at Palm Court Awarded AAA Five Diamond Award
Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza’s Orchids at Palm Court has been awarded AAA's Five Diamond Award for 2015. The restaurant, helmed by executive chef and director of food and beverage Todd Kelly, was one of just 63 in North America to receive the rating for 2015 — and the only restaurant in Ohio to do so. "It’s just so incredible to…
LISTEN: 2015 ‘Best New Bands’ Showcase Performers
Saturday night, be sure to head to Bogart’s for this year's "Best New Bands" showcase, presented by CityBeat and featuring performances by some of the local musical acts you should keep your eye on this year. The 2015 showcase features all of this year’s Cincinnati Entertainment Award nominees for New Artist of the Year, each…
Stage Door: A Weekend of Classic Musicals and Plays, Plus a Party and Some Lies
Things are off to a good start for 2015: The touring production of Cinderella at the Aronoff is a very entertaining retooling of music by Rodgers and Hammerstein into a more contemporary version of the classic fairy tale. It's the same story, but the attitudes are of the 21st century, with a "power to the…
Forgotten Classics: Ed Wood
Last year, director Tim Burton released a film that many are considering his strongest film in a while — Big Eyes. It follows the story of the artist Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) her husband Walter (Christoph Waltz) and the scandal of Walter taking credit for Margaret’s famous ‘big eyes’ portraits. While the film itself is…
From the Copy Desk
Good late morning readers! Let's jump right into Words Nobody Uses or Knows in this week's issue. (But first, you know I have to say it: Pick up a copy! We feature Cincinnati's Best New Bands of 2015. It's a great way to discover new groups and pretend that you're hip.) Alright, best word of…
Morning News and Stuff
Heya! I’m gearing up to spend a couple days in Chicago, so no morning news tomorrow. However, I’m leaving ya with a bunch of crazy stuff today, so check it out. First, something’s in the air here in Cincinnati lately. Yesterday I told you about Michael Hoyt, the West Chester bartender who threatened to kill…
