Declaring Peace and a New Kind of Justice
Matt Borgerding Volunteers prepare banners for the Declaration of Peace. Peace activists say they will disrupt work at U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot's district offices Sept. 27 unless he agrees by then to sign the Congressional Declaration of Peace. At a Sept. 18 town hall meeting in Clifton Heights, Chabot's aide reiterated support for President…
Cover Story: Back to the ‘Point
Jim Fugett Five Alive: It's all about the music at MidPoint. When you come down to the fifth annual MidPoint Music Festival this weekend, of course you'll see a lot of familiar faces from the local music scene. But as the festival matures, there's a growing group of out-of-town artists who are just as…
News: Not a ‘Christian Nation’
Matt Borgerding Christian politics has led to such "nonsense" as support for war, according to the Rev. Greg Boyd With mid-term elections less than two months away, many political candidates look to area churches to spread their party's ideals. But candidates and their agendas likely won't be welcome at Crossroads Community Church. During September…
Onstage: Not Enough
Sandy Underwood Gary Sandy and Susan Nock play the title characters in ETC's Mack and Mable. Playing pioneer filmmaker Mack Sennett, Gary Sandy sings, "I promised you a happy ending" to wrap up the classic Jerry Herman musical Mack and Mabel, opening the 2006 season at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati (ETC). It's a bit…
Cover Story: PANELSANDWORKSHOPS
Bootsy Collins Bootsy Collins is this year's keynote artist at MidPoint. The following panels and workshops take place during MidPoint's daytime hours at the Contemporary Arts Center, Sixth and Walnut streets in the heart of downtown. The workshops — which focus more on sound and recording and offer MPMFers a chance to talk directly…
Answers to the Disability Quiz
Harry S. Truman had been president for less than six months when Congressional Resolution 176, proclaiming the first week in October "National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week," was passed. It was 1945 and, with the wave of returning World War II veterans whose most enduring war memento was the acquisition of a disability, programs were…
Cover Story: PANELS AND WORKSHOPS
The following panels and workshops take place during MidPoint's daytime hours at the Contemporary Arts Center, Sixth and Walnut streets in the heart of downtown. The workshops — which focus more on sound and recording and offer MPMFers a chance to talk directly to the pros — are located on the CAC's fifth floor, while…
Signs on a Plane
To the writer of the Letter to the Editor "Obscene Fetus Photo" (issue of Sept. 6), thanks for the reminder. I had meant to ask the same question. When I was about 17 or 18, Larry Flynt sent out a flyer that was deemed obscene. It showed pretty horrific Vietnam and abortion photos. We at…
News: Waging War on the Minimum
J.D. Cutter An increased minimum wage will hurt businesses or help Ohio's economy and the working poor — it just depends on the speaker and which study you read. Both sides say the other is creating a smoke screen for larger issues. The Ohio Legislature just raised the state's minimum wage from $4.25 an…
Star Power in a Name
People laughed when Prince changed his name during the mid-1990s to an unpronounceable symbol that was a combination of the iconic representations of male and female. Primarily, the move was a sign of protest against the lack of freedom in his new multi-million dollar contract with Warner Bros., the record label that had helped launch…
Living Out Loud: : Looking at the Past
I've seen this guy walking around Clifton for maybe a month now. He's usually on the other side of the street, and I say to myself it can't possibly be him. Surely he's drunk himself to death by now. A couple days ago I was walking up to Arlin's to meet some friends. I saw…
Cover Story: MPMF VENUES
Bootsy Collins Bootsy Collins is this year's keynote artist at MidPoint. Arnold's 210 E. Eighth St., Downtown 513-421-6234 Blue Wisp 318 E. Eighth St., Downtown 513-241-9477 Chamber's 125 E. Court St., Downtown 513-621-0237 Club Dream Jail Alley (off Main Street, near Jekyll & Hyde's), Over-the-Rhine No phone Cooper's on Main 1345 Main St.,Over-the-Rhine 513-381-0455…
Cover Story: MPMF SATURDAY
Joanna Harris Giant Bear ARNOLD'S 9:15 p.m. Strydir Lee (Toledo, Ohio) Rock This quartet has amassed a dedicated following in the Toledo area on the strength of four solid Rock albums, including their latest, Electric Money Burns. With a revamped line-up and a new album, Strydir Lee are poised to bring their thinking man's…
Ovation Theatre Company
Cincinnati native Richard Oberacker provides music and lyrics for Ace, winner of this year's Mickey Kaplan New Play Prize. Most local theaters have announced their 2006-07 shows, but sometimes it takes a while to land the rights for scripts a group wants to present. That's been the case with OVATION THEATRE COMPANY, which will…
Critics’ Pick: Longworth’s
Graham Lienhart Scene: Situated between high brick walls and the sidewalk along St. Gregory Street, patio seating at Longworth's offers the best outdoor people-watching spot in Mount Adams. By day and evening, the patio hosts an all-ages crowd. Later at night, it's overtaken by college kids and young professionals, though I have a hard…
Cover Story: MPMF Thursday
Graham Lienhart The Lab Rats ARNOLD'S 9:15 p.m. Venus Mission (Cincinnati) Pop/Rock Venus Mission resurfaced last year with their newest album, Love Me Back Alive, produced by Ric Hordinski (formerly of Over the Rhine) and engineered by John Curley (ex-Afghan Whigs) and featuring local artists such as Abiyah and Swift (4-Track Allstars). In 2003…
Countering ‘Point
All of the best big music conferences/festivals have 'em — those rascally counter festivals that pop up either due to some beef with the more prominent fest or a simple desire to provide an alternative. Austin's South By Southwest has several of them and now MidPoint has one of its very own. Downtown club The…
Your Pointless Existence
Life: What's the point? What's the use? What's it all for? Have you been at this place in life much? It's not exactly a depressing place to be, more like neutral — just a boring sense of pointlessness to anything you do or plan to do. You might try various things to get out of…
The Fall’s on its Way – Click here to listen
Notes: As the season of Fall approaches, I got to thinking about other falls that might be brewing in the world. Our leaders in the last few years have surely left us on fragile grounds in terms of our relationship with the world community.Unfortunately, it's only a matter of time before major shifts start sweeping…
Diner: Moving On
J.D. Cutter It all started the day I found out I was leaving Cincinnati for good. That night, I found myself at my kitchen table sketching out a list of favorite places I wanted to hit one more time before leaving town: Bonbonerie, Slim's, Graeter's, Jean-Ro Bistro, Delight Thai Café, Pit to Plate, The…
Locals Only: : Limp wisp?
On Aug. 23, the Jazz flag fell to half mast in Cincinnati. Marjean Wisby, long-time owner of the Blue Wisp, died of respiratory failure that morning at the age of 62. Her death was a double blow to the Jazz community, signifying not only the loss of one of the greatest music supporters in the…
College Football Polls a Mystery, but Reds Collapse Isn’t
Jerry Dowling The conventional wisdom usually says that a baseball club has to win 10 in a row to take command of a playoff race, when all the club really needs is to win more often than not against clubs it should beat. Sadly, the Reds were unable to do even that during the…
News: Streicher Goes Ballistic
CityBeat Archive If someone went to Cincinnati Police Chief Tom Streicher's office and started berating him without warning — as Streicher did in a newsroom last week — an arrest would probably follow. In the latest of a long list of angry outbursts, Cincinnati Police Chief Thomas Streicher Jr. recently paid a surprise visit…
Phyllis Weston-Annie Bolling Gallery
ArtWorks This untitled work, created by ArtWorks apprentice Gabrielle Boimann and design firm Powers Agency, is part of TOM: The Outdoor Museum, an exhibition centering on the theme of harmony. I might have missed the grand opening, but I'll certainly go see the new space — as should you. The PHYLLIS WESTON-ANNIE BOLLING GALLERY…
Cover Story: FiveAlive
Geoff Raker MidPoint Music Festival Guide With the average shelf-life of a new music festival/conference being about two or three years, the growth and success of the MidPoint Music Festival — now in year five — can't be shrugged at. Nearly 300 bands will pack the clubs in and around the Main Street Entertainment…
Film: Serious Films for a Serious Time
IFC Films U.S. President George W. Bush was at the center of several Toronto International Film Festival entries, including the Ohio-based documentary …So Goes the Nation and the highly controversial D.O.A.P. TORONTO — From fictional dramas like Babel and The Wind That Shakes the Barley to documentaries like The U.S. vs. John Lennon and…
Music: Out of Nowhere
Jim Noelker Though from small-town Ohio, Sohio has bigger ambitions for their music. Plan: Meet Sohio at The Comet. Scratch that. The Sidewinder Café. Even after settling down in the private section, this already sidetracked interview gets worse. Like using tweezers to yank out a wisdom tooth. No nitrous. The difficulty doesn't arise from…
News to Use
March to Stop the War People opposed to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq will march from 4-6 p.m. Sept. 25 downtown. Participants will march to local offices of senators George Voinovich and Mike DeWine and U.S. Rep. Chabot to deliver petitions asking them to sign on the Congressional Declaration of Peace Pledge. The…
Upcoming Concert Reviews of Rakim, The Whigs and More…
Paul Elledge Low Skies Rakim with Kid Capri and Brother Ali Wednesday · Annie's Seldom are brag raps interesting, but Rakim's toasting is consistently fresh. In the fashion of farsighted novels like James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, which challenged conventional writing, the Long Island native expanded the regular meter, "to the girl in…
Cover Story: MPMF Friday
Bill Mike Band Bill Mike Band ARNOLD'S 9:15 p.m. The Sloes (Cincinnati) Acoustic Rock A duo collaboration between longtime Cincinnati singer/songwriter Rick Lisak and Spookfloaters bassist Scott Carnder evolved into the wildly diverse Sloes in 2002 when Carnder picked up a mandolin for variety. By last year, The Sloes had filled out the line-up…
