Cover Story: A Very Brady Christmas
Ryan Greis I never really gave any thought to the fact that my grandparents grew up during the Depression. And I never thought what effect that had on Christmas. I'm used to having a Christmas tree and lights and hordes of presents. Of course, I'm also use to having a computer, a VCR, a…
Music: Marshall’s Art
Marshall Crenshaw It's easy for certain artists to get lost in the millennial sprawl of popular music these days. Among the teen-age boy/girl wonders, the machine-gun, Rap-happy antics of countless acts, and the draining morass of Metal Rap posers, there's little room for true Pop craftsmen. Marshall Crenshaw, one such artist, has been one…
Cover Story: Mall-Free and Loving It
Ryan Greis No parking hassles. No traffic jams. No Chick-Fil-A. Sbarro? Uh-Uh. There's no trip to the mall for me. This Christmas, I'm doing my shopping online. In case you haven't heard, everything that you could legally want is available online, and then some. And with online shopping — providing you have access to…
Cover Story: I’m Free to Do What I Want
Ryan Greis There's an old Steve Martin joke where the comedian promises the secret of how to have a million dollars and never paying taxes: "OK, first thing you do is get a million dollars. Then …" And so it goes with the whole MP3 phenomenon. Sure, you can download an unlimited number of…
The Protest Was Legal, But What About The Searches?
Will the TABD demonstrations prompt the next constitutional issue for Fountain Square? The square has been the subject of litigation before. When President Reagan visited for a re-election rally in 1984, opponents' signs were confiscated, leading to a class-action lawsuit. The Ku Klux Klan has also sued the city to gain access to the square.…
News: Protesters Go To Trial
Jymi Bolden About 20 people are fighting charges stemming from demonstrations against the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) Nov. 16 through 18. Most of the 52 people arrested during protests downtown have pleaded no contest and left jail. During hearings in Hamilton County Municipal Court, seven protesters represented by private attorneys pleaded not guilty. About…
Cover Story: Holiday Gifts by the Book
Ryan Greis Simply put, there's no finer gift than a book, reflecting smartly on both the giver and the receiver. Sublime, questioning, sophisticated, original, curious, charitable, wise, caustic — a book is a perfect witness to the glory and grand aspirations of the human soul. · Soulful: What the Dormouse Said. A delightful collection…
Ominous Seapods
WHILE POPULAR ON THE JAM BAND CIRCUIT, OMINOUS SEAPODS are one of those band's that have appeal beyond their hippie dancin' fanbase. The group's most recent release, The Super Man Curse, is an anomaly coming from the jam scene for two reasons. Most importantly, the band doesn't rely on flashy, masturbatory solos, instead focussing…
Cover Story: Jonesing for a Gadget Fix
Ryan Greis Both traditional and Internet-based stores are jammed full of an unprecedented array of the cutting edge, completely unnecessary and totally indulgent products that are a gadget lover's fix. Competing for attention this holiday season will be, among hundreds of other items, digital cameras, MP3 players, CD recorders, DVD players, personal digital assistants,…
Diner: Duck and Cover
The duck with dirty rice and eggplant-sweet potato gravy was a simple menu, as far as Cajun food goes: only five or six subrecipes, sweet potato cut up and cooked three different ways, three quarts of homemade stock added a half a cup at a time and then simmered down to one tenth of its…
Dead Elf Walking
I'm not proud of what I did. To be honest, I barely remember doing it. My court-appointed shrink says I lost my grasp of reality. Maybe so. All I know is that, at the time, taking those weapons into Santa's Workshop seemed right. Seemed absolutely appropriate. Like it was the only way out of my…
Burning Down the Church of Tolerance
Measured financially, it's the largest civil-rights organization in the country, taking in over $44 million last year alone. Still, you might never have heard of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Montgomery, Ala. It was founded in 1971 by Joseph J. Levin Jr. and Morris Dees, two lawyers with a shared concern about racial…
Community Calendar
Citywide "SNAPSHOTS: WORKS ON PAPER BY AREA STUDENTS" is a photography contest sponsored by the Cincinnati Art Museum for students in grades four through 12.The contest is in conjunction with the upcoming exhibitionHALF PAST AUTUMN: THE ART OF GORDON PARKS. Judging will be on topic, composition, lighting and creativity. The museum will frame and exhibit…
Wandering and Wondering
I rode over to Indiana a few weeks ago to play for an outside wedding reception in Aurora, Ind. Elaine Crow, known also as "Ma," was doing the gig with me, and she drove up a steep hill to get to the party area. We got out of the car, stretched a little and got…
WVXU Does Web Radio Right
Over the past three decades, cable television has freed the nation's viewers from the limited, often stale offerings of the three-network oligopoly. Pioneering companies and individuals are similarly threatening the livelihoods of conventional radio broadcasters. Cable operators now fill their pipelines, which reach into almost every home in America, with an expansive selection of commercial-free,…
