Unsullied
By now we have become used to actors venturing behind the camera and even the occasional musician eager to pursue their crossover dreams, but Simeon Rice, the director of Unsullied, seeks to bulldoze his way from the football field. His debut feature follows Reagan (Murray Gray), a track star who gets kidnapped when her car…
Phoenix
Based on Hubert Monteilhet’s novel Le Retour des cendres, Phoenix, from co-screenwriter and director Christian Petzold, tracks the tale of Nelly Lenz (Nina Hoss). The severely scarred concentration camp survivor undergoes facial reconstruction surgery, which allows her to emerge unrecognizable and begin a desperate search through post-war Berlin for her husband Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld), the…
No Escape
Owen Wilson and Lake Bell topline co-writer and director John Erick Dowdle’s action-thriller about an American family settling into a new home overseas who must go on the run with their children when a coup attempt plunges the country into turmoil. No Escape plays into the worst fears of Americans abroad, where danger lurks around…
Oktoberfest Already?
Pumpkin beers from MadTree (The Great PumpCan) and Oktoberfest beers from Tap & Screw (Schraube) and Rhinegeist (Franz) have already made their way to the market, unseasonably early. Just around the corner are several Oktoberfests, though, and late-summer outdoor beer fests to look forward to. New Local Beers • At the end of July, Taft’s…
Third Cincinnati-Related Film to Screen at New York Film Festival
The Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky Film Commission — or an enterprising arts-tourism travel agent — might want to look at organizing a charter from here to attend the New York Film Festival from Sept. 25 to Oct. 11. Previously announced at the fest were two dramatic films shot in Cincinnati — Todd Haynes’ Carol…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning all. Here’s the news today. Cincinnati City Council yesterday moved along at least one charter amendment proposal, putting it on the November ballot for voters to approve. That amendment would clarify when council can meet in executive session, away from the staring eyes of the public. Ohio state law allows some use of…
Farming in a Strip Mall
C onjure up the image of a basic, non-descript suburban strip mall in your head and you’ll likely see the typical suspects: a dollar store, a pharmacy and a copy shop. It’s certainly not the most bucolic of settings, which is normally where you would expect to find a farm, lush with bright-green produce. But…
Spoonful of Cinema: Straight Outta Compton (Review)
When N.W.A. first arrived, the group was a revelation — a musical explosion of aggressive lyrics and explicit subject matter. When its legendary record Straight Outta Compton dropped 27 years ago, it may very well have marked the inclusion of gangsta rap in the mainstream conscious of pop culture for the first time. The rap…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning y’all. Hope your weekend was as fantastic as mine was. Yesterday I finally made it down to the Taft Museum to check out their exhibition of Edward Curtis photographs. Curtis spent 30 years in the early part of the 1900s photographing Native American tribes across the West. His work is technically stunning and…
Your Weekend Playlist: August Vibes
Old, new, weird or blue – I can’t get enough. “Thunder Clatter” – Wild Cub This hand-clapping, shoe-tapping goodness is by far one of the best new jams I’ve came across, making it impossible to skip when it comes up in my track library. It’s upbeat, it’s joyful, and you’ll find yourself singing the final…
Your Weekend To Do List (8/21-8/23)
FRIDAY EVENT: CINCY BREW HA-HA If 50 comedians performing over the span of three days doesn’t get you laughing, the annual Cincy Brew Ha-Ha beer and comedy festival has just what you need to give your silly streak a pulse: beer. Lots of it. With two 100-seat beer gardens and plenty of beer booths serving…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning all. Here’s the news today as we gear up for what I’m sure will be a rad weekend. How's that crime plan going so far? At the beginning of the summer, Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell was asked by City Manager Harry Black to draft a 90-day plan to reduce the number of…
Stage Door
Theater slows down this time of year as most local companies are readying to launch their 2015-2016 seasons in September. You’ll find two newish productions on local stages — Company at The Carnegie in Covington and 9 to 5 at the Incline in East Price Hill. Stephen Sondheim’s Company is a solid production with a…
The Carnegie Is Off to a Fresh Start with ‘Company’
It’s an ambitious artistic director who opens her first full theater season with a show by Stephen Sondheim. But Maggie Perrino has show biz in her blood — her father, Tim Perrino, is the force behind Cincinnati Landmark Productions — so she doesn’t do things halfway. Producing Sondheim and George Furth’s Company at The Carnegie…
Incline’s ‘9 to 5’ Doesn’t Add Up
Cincinnati Landmark Productions (CLP) has hit a home run with the debut of the Warsaw Federal Incline Theater this summer. As Artistic Director Tim Perrino announces from the stage most evenings, the three-show season will record 45 straight sold-out performances. Perrino and his crew have built a functional, attractive venue and programmed it mostly with…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning y’all. Here’s what’s happening around the city and beyond today. Former Mason mayor and state representative Peter Beck was sentenced today to four years in prison on 13 felony convictions related to his role in defrauding investors by luring them into giving money to a failing technology company. Earlier this year, Beck was…
Sinister 2
Death comes a-calling, and it seems intent on seducing the twin sons (Robert Daniel Sloan and Dartanian Sloan) of a mother (Shannyn Sossamon) who has moved her family to a remote rural house with a connection to a dark past. The first Sinister installment, directed by creepmeister Scott Derrickson (now slated to helm Marvel’s Doctor…
The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran’s seminal work gets reimagined as a documentary essay by Gary Tarn (Black Sun) that seeks to illustrate the themes of love, life and loss that The Prophet addressed through its powerful mix of prose and poetry-laced essays, with Thandie Newton providing narration. (Opens Friday at Mariemont Theatre) (NR) Not screened in time for…
Jimmy’s Hall
Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes the Barley) continues to offer audiences his British socialist outsider narratives, this time delving into the Depression-Era return of Jimmy Gralton (Barry Ward) to his home in Ireland after a decade spent in exile in the United States. Jimmy endeavors to stay out of trouble, but he cannot ignore…
Hitman: Agent 47
For some reason, videogame adaptations have failed to achieve any degree of crossover success (multi-platforming across the screen and possibly into the literary sphere) that might have been expected. Case in point, Hitman: Agent 47 marks the second attempt to capitalize on the story of a lone cloned assassin (Rupert Friend follows in the footsteps…
American Ultra
An Adventureland reunion breaks out in Project X director Nima Nourizadeh’s new movie about a stoner (Jesse Eisenberg) who turns out to be a stone-cold licensed-to-kill government agent deemed to be off the reservation. Of course the agency has a problem because he’s highly trained and, well, high most of the time, which makes him…
Missed Stories
Recent news stories remind me of places I’ve worked as a photojournalist, reporter or editor… and how they exploded when I wasn’t there. There is no shortage of heroic recollections by aging reporters, but there were events I wish I’d covered: wrong place at the right time, or right place at the wrong time. It happens. In 1960,…
Event: Cincy Summer Streets
Now in its second year, Cincy Summer Streets blocks off a neighborhood’s main drag to cars and traffic for a day of biking, skateboarding, yoga, cornhole, Frisbee, chalk art, giant Jenga and much, much more. This weekend, Cincy Summer Streets is taking over Northside, blocking off Hamilton Avenue between Pullan and Spring Grove avenues, so…
Music: Publicist UK
The anticipated new bar/music venue Northside Yacht Club (in the space formerly occupied by Mayday) is officially open. This weekend would be the perfect time to check it out, as heavy, compelling Post Punk newcomers Publicist UK (featuring members of Revocation, Municipal Waste and many other notable bands) brings the tour for its debut album…
Art: Bookworks XVI Artists Walk-Through at the Cincinnati Public Library
In an age dominated by digital media, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, in conjunction with the Cincinnati Book Arts Society (CBAS), hosts an annual Bookworks exhibition in the atrium of the downtown public library featuring the work of local area book artists to remind readers of the tangible and artistic qualities of…
Event: An Afternoon with the Beer Barons
Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum has been the final resting place of many a famous Cincinnatian, from lawyers and politicians to our beloved beer barons. And Spring Grove celebrates our malty past with an afternoon dedicated to exploring the graves and stories of famous brewers through docent-led motor-coach cemetery tours and a party in the…
Event: Best Friends and Brews
A night filled with everyone’s two favorite things: furry friends and beer. This tasting event supports the SPCA of Cincinnati, featuring food from local restaurants, music by the Comet Bluegrass All-Stars and a raffle. Last year’s event sold out, so get your tickets quick. 7-11 p.m. Saturday. $25-$125. SPCA Cincinnati Sharonville Shelter, 11900 Conrey Road,…
Event: Bonsai Show and Competition
The Bonsai Society of Greater Cincinnati descends on Krohn Conservatory for its annual weekend-long fall bonsai show and competition, Nature in Miniature. The group, one of the oldest bonsai societies in America, aims to foster the study and appreciation of bonsai (the Japanese artform of growing miniature trees in containers) and related arts, and this…
Event: BootYard Bash
OTR goes Country for Washington Park’s inaugural BootYard Bash. The park transforms into a real-live honky tonk with free Country music, Western-themed games, craft beer and a variety of other family-friendly events to get your boots stomping. Bands include Jeremy Pinnell, The Black Lillies, Carter Winter and headliner Will Hoge at 8:30 p.m. 3-10 p.m.…
Event: Shake It Up Cocktail Festival
Jungle Jim’s is a wonderland of exotic food and booze, and their new Shake It Up Cocktail Festival celebrates the end of summer with just that. Say goodbye to tan lines, pool parties and flip-flops with expertly crafted cocktails and mixed drinks, and imbibe an atmosphere full of flair bartenders, expert mixologists and more. 6:30-9:30…
Event: Indie Craft Market
Love shopping local? Love handmade goodies? Head to Fountain Square Friday night for the Indie Craft Market, featuring handmade crafts, work from independent artists and more, plus live music from local Indie bands. It’s a night of indie in the center of the city. 5-11 p.m. Friday. Free. Fountain Square, Fifth and Vine streets, Downtown,…
Event: Cincy Brew Ha-Ha
If 50 comedians performing over the span of three days doesn’t get you laughing, the annual Cincy Brew Ha-Ha beer and comedy festival has just what you need to give your silly streak a pulse: beer. Lots of it. With two 100-seat beer gardens and plenty of beer booths serving up everything from locals to…
Onstage: A Hundred Minus One Day
For two summers, John Leo Muething has presented Stone on a Walk, his low-budget theater company offering “short, sweet and cheap” shows. His goal is for you to walk away after an hour’s performance saying, “That was sweet.” 2015’s final production is the U.S. premiere of a touching comedy by Idgie Beau, an Edinburgh Fringe…
Event: Response Project
For Response Projects, creatives prepare and share a 10-minute response to a work of art. The popular event’s third installment takes place Aug. 21 and will spotlight Cathy Wagner, Matt McAllister, Mark Mendoza, Megan Hague, Loraine Wible and Holzman, who will reflect on the poetry of Sappho. “In general, I’m an advocate for all things…
Music: Ohmstead
Ohmstead (founded by and named after late Cincy band The Four Ohms) has been providing an eclectic mix of music in the great outdoors for the past 14 years. This Friday and Saturday, Ohmstead returns at the VFW campground in Franklin, Ohio (9728 Claude-Thomas Road), about 40 miles north of Cincy. Popular local Reggae/Roots/Jam/Rock crew…
Comedy: Tyrone Hawkins
Comedian Tyrone Hawkins has been bouncing back and forth between Seattle and his hometown of Cincinnati for a few years. He placed third in the 2012 Seattle International Comedy Competition, which led to a string of headlining dates throughout the West, and he’s currently working on a new hour. “I’m incorporating music now with a…
Event: Summer Cinema at Washington Park
As we reach the end of summer, so too do we come to the final installments of Washington Park’s weekly Summer Cinema series. This Wednesday, bring a blanket or a lawn chair and park yourself in front of the park’s giant outdoor screen to sing along to hits from Grease. Good girl Sandy and bad-boy…
Spoonful of Cinema: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (Review)
I went and saw Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation twice in the last week and a half. It was an absolute blast the first time around and the second opportunity was too hard to turn down when I found myself at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., last Wednesday afternoon. It is a doozy of…
Preserving the Harvest
Y ou can’t hit a farmers market this time of year without being overwhelmed by the sight of beautiful locally grown tomatoes, not to mention countless other varieties of produce. But there are only so many meals in a summer day, right? What’s a dedicated locavore to do come mid-February when you’ve got a hankering…
Into the Valley
There is an underlying fluidity, impermanence and shaky confidence at the core of Ruth Galm’s hyper-vigilant and engrossing debut novel, Into the Valley, that is both unsettling and, ultimately, victorious. From this novel’s simple opening sentence — “She took the forged check to the bank and cashed it.” — to its concise, shocking and surprising…
IFC Ushers in New Age of Parody
Mockumentaries — fictional, often improvised and satirical films that are shot and presented like a true documentary — may be popular today, but the term was coined in the 1960s, with The Beatles’ documentary-style scripted comedy A Hard Day’s Night as one of the first films of its kind. Fast-forward to the ’80s when This…
Staving Off ‘The End’ with Donald Margulies
The End of the Tour documents an encounter between David Foster Wallace and Rolling Stone writer David Lipsky, who tagged along for the end of the press tour for Wallace’s Infinite Jest. Lipsky’s book, Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, chronicles the five days he spent with Wallace and serves as the basis…
Continuum Bazaar in OTR Celebrates Independent Artists and Designers
Eclectic clothing, pineapple hangers and ceramic boob vases — these are just a few of the items that can be found at Continuum in Over-the-Rhine, an eclectic bazaar supporting an array of independent and emerging designers, artists and makers. Shop owner Ericka Leighton is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture,…
Counting on Women Playwrights
“The Count,” a recent study of hundreds of theater productions nationwide between 2012 and 2015 at nonprofit theaters such as the Playhouse in the Park and others in Cincinnati, revealed that roughly one-fifth were written by women. That’s an improvement over a decade ago, but it’s a long way from parity. At this year’s Tony…
Fall Arts Calendar
Visit our Fall Arts Preview page for stories about area artists and their crafts. AUGUST VISUAL ARTS: THE GOODWILL BIENNIAL Keith Banner and Bill Ross, the imaginative operators of Thunder-Sky, Inc., have come up with another clever idea, asking Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries to set aside a year’s worth of donated handmade art. Along with Matt…
Onstage
W ith the fall season, you have plenty of theater choices to consider. Beyond Cincinnati’s professional and semi-professional companies, area universities provide excellent theater fare worth attending. Of course, these programs are part of experiential offerings that are key to students’ educations, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t also entertaining. In fact, since university theaters…
Classical Music
S ince its first production in 2013, Cincinnati Chamber Opera has carved out its own unique identity among local fledgling opera companies. University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music alums Autumn West and Shawn Mlynek founded Cincinnati Chamber Opera to stage and perform works they wanted to do, especially rarely heard Baroque works by Haydn and…
Film
I t all began as an answer to a creative alert — a calling, if you will. Back in 2007, the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE) drafted a Creative Class Taskforce to seek the advice of Dr. Richard Florida, one of the world’s leading urbanists, the author of the international bestseller The Rise…
Dance
Providence, R.I.-based Everett Company (formerly Everett Dance Theatre) wants to know how America has transformed the “land of the free” into a country with one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, and what that means for those trapped in the system. This small, unique company brings its most recent work, The Freedom Project…
Visual Arts
T he theme for CityBeat’s Fall Arts Preview is “Arts & Craft.” But maybe it should be “Art vs. Craft,” because not only are the two different, but there is tension — hostility, even — between the two, especially with the emergence of Modern and Contemporary art in the late 19th and early 20th century.…
Lawsuit: VA Skimped on Overtime
Nurses at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals across the country, including one from Cincinnati’s facility, are suing the federal government, alleging the VA coerced them into working unpaid overtime monitoring an electronic health system. Audricia Brooks, a nurse at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center in Corryville, is one of two original plaintiffs in the case,…
Koch Bros. Group Targets Strickland in Ohio’s U.S. Senate Race
A group funded by billionaire conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch has jumped into Ohio’s 2016 U.S. Senate race with a series of new ads bashing Democratic candidate and former Ohio governor Ted Strickland. The $1.4 million in ad buys by the Americans for Prosperity Political Action Committee signals the importance of the race between…
Clearing the Smoke
L ast week, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced that marijuana legalization effort ResponsibleOhio had succeeded in its push to collect the more than 300,000 signatures it needed to put its proposal for a state constitutional amendment on the November ballot. If voters pass the amendment, it would legalize marijuana for anyone over the…
This Week’s Dining (and Drinking) Events
WEDNESDAY 19 Canning Classes — Learn how to preserve your garden’s harvest with this canning class. Workshop features the latest recommendations based on USDA guidelines on safely canning vegetables and other low-acid foods. Geared toward beginners. 6-7:30 p.m. $15. OSU Extension Office, 5093 Colerain Ave., Mount Airy, hamilton.osu.edu. All About Avocado — Romaine salad with…
Music: Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire is the kind of band that has monumentally transcended the typical successes and fandom that most classic bands achieve. Through more than 45 years of consistent activity, both in terms of touring and continually adding to its now 21-album-deep discography, the band has racked up 12 nominations and four trophies from…
Sound Advice: Earth, Wind & Fire with Chicago
Earth, Wind & Fire is the kind of band that has monumentally transcended the typical successes and fandom that most classic bands achieve. Through more than 45 years of consistent activity, both in terms of touring and continually adding to its now 21-album-deep discography, the band has racked up 12 nominations and four trophies from…
Music: Morning Teleportation
A lot of bands claim to be Psychedelic and then just crank up the reverb and write thinly veiled songs about getting high and transcendentally pondering mystically spiritual subject matter. Morning Teleportation doesn’t work that close to the surface. The Bowling Green, Ky., quartet offers up a sonic universe that approximates the sound of acid-taking…
Sound Advice: Morning Teleportation with Injecting Strangers and The Yugos
A lot of bands claim to be Psychedelic and then just crank up the reverb and write thinly veiled songs about getting high and transcendentally pondering mystically spiritual subject matter. Morning Teleportation doesn’t work that close to the surface. The Bowling Green, Ky., quartet offers up a sonic universe that approximates the sound of acid-taking…
Music: San Fermin
San Fermin’s second album, the recently released Jackrabbit, picks up where its debut left off, delivering lush soundscapes and boy/girl vocal tradeoffs. The Brooklyn-based band’s founder and creative driving force, Ellis Ludwig-Leone, has a thing for conceptual grandeur, and with Jackrabbit he again examines lives, whether human or animal, immersed in high-stakes situations. The jaunty,…
Sound Advice: San Fermin with Lemon Sky, The Ridges, Sweet & The Sweet Sweets and Orchards
San Fermin’s second album, the recently released Jackrabbit, picks up where its debut left off, delivering lush soundscapes and boy/girl vocal tradeoffs. The Brooklyn-based band’s founder and creative driving force, Ellis Ludwig-Leone, has a thing for conceptual grandeur, and with Jackrabbit he again examines lives, whether human or animal, immersed in high-stakes situations. The jaunty,…
Music: Pop Evil
When the subject turns to Michigan Rock, most people tend to place the epicenter of any significant musical earthquake squarely in Detroit. That’s not necessarily wrong, but it does exclude an impressive array of talent from a variety of locales that aren’t the Motor City, including The Verve Pipe from East Lansing, Whirlwind Heat from…
Sound Advice: Pop Evil with Aranda and Red Sun Rising
When the subject turns to Michigan Rock, most people tend to place the epicenter of any significant musical earthquake squarely in Detroit. That’s not necessarily wrong, but it does exclude an impressive array of talent from a variety of locales that aren’t the Motor City, including The Verve Pipe from East Lansing, Whirlwind Heat from…
Ohmstead Music Fest Returns for 14th-Annual Event
Ohmstead (founded by and named after late Cincy band The Four Ohms) has been providing an eclectic mix of music in the great outdoors for the past 14 years. This Friday and Saturday, Ohmstead returns at the VFW campground in Franklin, Ohio (9728 Claude-Thomas Road), about 40 miles north of Cincy. Popular local Reggae/Roots/Jam/Rock crew…
Music: Lake Street Dive
I t’s been a year and a half since the stratospheric breakout success of Lake Street Dive’s Bad Self Portraits album and its ubiquitous title track. In a heartbeat, the Boston-born/Brooklyn-based quartet (vocalist Rachael Price, guitarist/trumpeter Mike “McDuck” Olson, upright bassist Bridget Kearney and drummer Mike Calabrese) was getting face time on every late-night/morning television…
Dive to the Top
I t’s been a year and a half since the stratospheric breakout success of Lake Street Dive’s Bad Self Portraits album and its ubiquitous title track. In a heartbeat, the Boston-born/Brooklyn-based quartet (vocalist Rachael Price, guitarist/trumpeter Mike “McDuck” Olson, upright bassist Bridget Kearney and drummer Mike Calabrese) was getting face time on every late-night/morning television…
Worst Week Ever! Aug. 19-25
Firefighters Concerned About Flammable Objects, Obstacles to Putting Out Fires, Etc. Certain professionals prefer to be extremely prepared while on the job — you don’t see surgeons opening up people’s bodies without knowing which gross things inside need to come out and which ones can stay. Firefighters also have difficult jobs and prefer to be…
Woman with Stuff
The night before I sat down to write this, I had formulated in my head the perfect first sentence to describe my emotional station, but I have now lost that to anxiety, to slumber, to dreams. The best sentence is this one: My kidneys are failing me because I have failed my body. Somewhere between…
An Out-of-this-World Demand
An Out-of-this-World Demand Website thesmokinggun.com has for years published copies of touring artists’ “riders,” which list the performer’s demands for each concert venue, and the documents have revealed particularly diva-like requirements or tour managers with fantastic senses of humor. A new classic request recently surfaced on the site via singer/producer Pharrell’s 2015 rider, which demands…
Bull Mountain
Never lacking in ambition, first-time author Brian Panowich enters the ring with a no-holds-barred, age-old tale of the ties that bind family and the resentments and stubbornness that tear families apart. Bull Mountain is a devastating tale told with the mastery of language we’ve seen from such writers as Cormac McCarthy, William Faulkner and a…
Art for Everybody
F ive years ago, graphic facilitator Mike Fleisch and a couple of his friends were on a road trip. Headed to Chicago for a Pixies concert, as they traveled north their on-the-road brainstorming resulted in something that would notably transform the Cincinnati arts scene: Chase Public, a nonprofit collaborative space for art and assembly. “I…
