Main Event: Cincinnati World Cinema
Cincinnati World Cinema Year-end films seek to do so much more than simply entertain. They want to compel and preach about the state of the world, especially this year, when it seems as if Iraq War fallout lands in the multiplexes every weekend in one form or another. But CINCINNATI WORLD CINEMA has found…
Would You Buy a Used Car From This Man?
CityBeat Archive Coming to a commercial near you: Joe Deters, county prosecutor and car salesman. Yes, indeed, that was Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters on the radio extolling the virtues of Ford motor vehicles. Why is an elected official shilling for a for-profit company and mentioning the title of his public office to do…
Jason Ricci and New Blood: Rocket Number 9
From the opening track of Rocket Number 9, it's clear that harmonica virtuoso Jason Ricci and Grammy Award-winning producer John Porter are determined to break free of the shackles of the "Blues" tag. "The Rocker," like much of Ricci's songwriting, draws from a hard, young life and presents a raucous but haunting vignette about drug…
Joe Nuxhall Had a Way of Making You Feel Comfortable
Jerry Dowling Even casual readers of this space know the author has made his fair share of errors, but one error in my career stands out as the funniest and most memorable. Ten years ago, I set out to do a piece about Reds equipment manager Bernie Stowe, one of those guys you find…
News: Green Campus
Cincinnati's "green" movement is about to grow more verdant with the University of Cincinnati participating. UC recently celebrated the signing of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment at a ceremony on campus. The Climate Commitment is an agreement among academic leaders to combat global warming and reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases (visit…
Larry Is Odd
In Larry Gross' "Thinking of Patti Deutsch" column (issue of Nov. 14), I enjoyed how he blended those noisy kids outside of his building while thinking about an old game show panelist. Kind of odd but entertaining. I know of Patti Deutsch because of the Game Show Network. She's the one who always gave the…
More Comps…
With its entire proceeds split between Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam America, next week's release of Waxploitation Records' Darfur benefit CD is worth searching for. Causes 1 is the first of a proposed Causes series of CDs, available on iTunes for 90 days and available as a limited edition physical CD directly…
Irrigate Your Sinuses With the Neti Pot
I've suffered with a seasonally clogged nose for as long as I can remember. It's kept me awake at night and made me gag during the day. There's a long list of coworkers who can testify to the annoying snorts and drips coming from my schnoz. I've tried many remedies: prescribed and over-the-counter cold medications…
First Thanksgiving Primer
There's a learning curve for everything, even cooking, and I was pretty far left of center when I undertook preparing my first Thanksgiving meal for my family. But really, how bad could it be? I'd watched my mother do it 100 times. It was my first year of college in Athens, Ga., and the whole…
Cover Story: Censored!
Mirissa Neff There are a handful of freedoms that have almost always been a part of American democracy. Even when they didn't exactly apply to everyone or weren't always protected by the people in charge, a few simple but significant rights have been patently clear in the Constitution: You can't be nabbed by the…
News to Use
Learn Police Work The next session of the Cincinnati Police Department's Citizens Police Academy is Jan. 16 through March 5, 2008.Designed to provide better understanding between citizens and police, the meetings are 6-9 p.m. Wednesdays. Topics include laws of arrest, use of force, criminal investigation, the mental health response team, domestic violence and personal safety.…
Film: Review: I’m Not There
Cate Blanchett channels mid-'60s Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes' fascinatingquasi-biopic, I'm Not There. Music biopics tend to be prosaic in form — a chronological recounting of a Pop star's life, highlighting the push-and-pull between personal tragedies and artistic triumphs. Usually, such films get their energy and achieve their success through the acting and music…
Books: A Marathon of Words
Stephen Carter-Novotni (L-R) Bardi, Sherry Spurlock and Layla Aaron meet every week for write-ins at local coffeeshops as part of National Novel Writing Month, in which challenges participants to write a novel in a month. The old phone book slogan "Let Your Fingers Do the Walking" begins to sum it up, except in this…
The stagehands union strike, Fringe applications and Scrooge look-alikes
Cincinnati Playhouse Do you look like Ebenezer Scrooge? Does your dog? Send photos to the Playhouse and win Christmas Carol tickets. If you're traveling to New York over the Thanksgiving holiday, plan carefully if theater is your goal: The stagehands union strike against the League of American Theaters and Producers means that only eight…
Diner: Review: Via Vite
Joe Lamb Via Vite I always had the unsettling feeling that something was missing in Fountain Square's recent transformation. Oh, I know downtown has become more vibrant than it's been in years, but I still felt there was a dining hole. Even though yummy options sprouted up at every turn, no locally-based dinner restaurant…
Date Rape Drugs and a Children’s Toy
You've probably heard about the Chinese-made arts and crafts toy called Aqua Dots and its connection to a chemical called gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB). Aqua Dots are beads that can be arranged into interesting designs and fused together when sprayed with water. GHB is naturally occurring, made in small amounts within our body and most…
Living Out Loud: : Protection
He's the parent of a teenager. His son plays football and is nearly finished with his sophomore year of high school. The son says football players get all the girls, and the father wants to believe it's an all right reason for his teenage boy to play the game. The son's a good kid. He…
America Starts at the CAC
CAC Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler's "Camouflaged History" One of the current exhibitions at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler: America Starts Here, has all the (assumed) prerequisites of a great contemporary art show. The work is wide-ranging, with political and environmental themes, an assumed audience and an esoteric beauty.…
iQuit
A few months ago, during an after-school writing session, I led a group of teenagers through a brief and largely improvised tour of the last 10 years of technology with an eye toward our hasty speculation about the future. Ten years ago, I told them, we had just graduated from mobile phones with the shape…
That’s (Cincinnati) Entertainment (Awards)
On Nov. 19, hundreds of local musicians and music fans packed the lower bowl at the Taft Theatre for the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. The event's 11th annual fiesta/ceremony featured the usual mix of amusing acceptance speeches, drunken heckling, superb musical performances from some of Cincinnati's finest musicians and … a creepy dancer dressed in a…
Locals Only: : The Cincinnati Suds
Shawn Abnoxious Cincinnati Suds "Fuck you!" That's how it starts. Two words to separate those who are aligned with the "Wild Blast" and those who are against it. What exactly is the Wild Blast, you ask? Well, that's not an easy answer, but if you made it this far you might be a witness…
News: Not a Payback
Jared M. Holder Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune dismisses as "crazy" the argument that layoffs and funding cuts are retaliation for voters' rejection of his proposal for a sales tax for a new jail. Even if voters had approved Issue 27, a proposed sales tax increase last month, Hamilton County commissioners say they still…
Thank You for Reading
I'm thankful it's Thanksgiving week. I'm a traditionalist at heart (a liberal in my brain), and I love family holidays. Holidays are the height pencil marks on the door frame of life. They measure how far you've come year to year and yet how slowly things really change. I'm thankful the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards are…
Sassy Smirking Viper at The Carnegie
Three gorgeous creatures have lighted at the Carnegie Visual and + Performing Arts Center, and SASSY SMIRKING VIPER is my favorite. Although the pieces are in fact blown glass works by artist Stephen Rolfe Powell, they seem more like creatures than objects. A little-known branch of the guinea family, maybe, or cousin to the…
Radiohead Finds Gold at the End of Rainbows
Oliver Meinerding Radiohead's pay-what-you-want experiment, aka In Rainbows, has been selling strongly, with people choosing to pay a little less than they'd pay for better quality versions at Amazon. While the band has chosen to keep all numbers private, the most-consistently leaked stats claim at least 1.2 million copies of the album sold (or…
Joe Henry: Civilians
Joe Henry's Scar (2001) and Tiny Voices (2003) are two of my favorite records from the last 10 years. So I'll be the first to admit that I might be approaching his new release with unreasonably high expectations. Civilians is no disappointment. I'm still marinating in it, patiently absorbing it and perversely enjoying every awkward…
Neil Young: Chrome Dreams II
Neil Young is hearing voices again. They speak, and Neil follows their commands. This time 'round they've convinced him to release the sequel to an unissued album from 1977. Only Neil Young releases a sequel to a record that never came out. Chrome Dreams II opens with a pair of cookie-cutter-yet-classic acoustic Young ballads, where…
Onstage: Review: The Musical of Musicals (the Musical!)
Sandy Underwood Kristin Maloney is one of the Broadway spoofers at Playhouse in the Park. To wring the biggest bang from your buck, you should brush up your Broadway before seeing Musical of Musicals: The Musical! at the Cincinnati Playhouse. The fun — and there's a ton of it — is in savoring the…
Film: Review: Love in the Time of Cholera
New Line Cinema Javier Bardem The famed 1985 magical realist novel of Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez gets an ambitious but off-key cinematic adaptation that trips up, with the exception of casting of Javier Bardem as its romantically enthusiastic protagonist. British director Mike Newell works from a script by Ronald Harwood (The Pianist)…
News: Indecent Exposure
Natalie Hager Michael Sanders and students photographed a nude model. Then police got a search warrant. When I told my mother that I was writing a story on Michael Sanders, she asked, "Isn't that the professor who got caught filming naked women in the woods?" This innocent question was based on her exposure to…
Sound Advice: : Hank Williams III, The Dynamites and The Cliks
Paradigm Agency The Cliks The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker Friday · Shake It Records (6 p.m. start) and Southgate House (10 p.m. start) Soul music flourished in a number of cities around the country in the '60s, and they all had their part to play in the genre's evolution. The Funk roar of New…
Onstage: Review: Camelot
Lou Diamond Phillips stars in Camelot at the Aronoff Center. Tales of King Arthur and the Round Table are a favorite of mine, and I
MainEvent: Dayton Contemporary Dance Company
Andy Snow Dayton Contemporary Dance Company DCDC Will Rock Your Socks and Your Soul DAYTON CONTEMPORARY DANCE COMPANY, based just a short hop away from Cincinnati, returns to the Queen City this weekend for a pair of performances in the Aronoff Center's Jarson-Kaplan Theater. Presented by Contemporary Dance Theater in a program of four…
Lookwhos: Look Who’s Eating: Chris Waugh
Graham Lienhart Chris Waugh Chris Waugh has found her niche. She's put together all the disparate elements of her working life — communications, marketing and sales — and paired them with her passion: wine. "My husband turned me onto wine," she explains. "For years, we spent Christmas flying into Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino…" Her friendly…
Music: Rewind! Let’s Do It Again
Jymi Bolden RAMP-ed up and ready for action: The members of RAMP are ready to take advantage of the cult acclaim from their 1977 album. Things must feel heady for RAMP, as the Cincy Soul band rides the crest of a reunion and a long-awaited reissue of its 1977 record, Come into Knowledge. Recent…
Locals Only: : Mark Utley
Mark Utley Mark Utley and Magnolia Mountain When I arrive, songster/guitarist Mark Utley is M.I.A. Actually, he's upstairs tucking one child in bed. As a rule, youngsters aren't drawn to me. Frequently, when I hold babies, they twitch, then cry. But when they do like me, they really like me, tugging me, hugging me.…
News: The Camera Doesn’t Lie
Sean Hughes At left is a news photo as it originally appeared in CityBeat in 2005. At right is the same photo, but doctored by the Rev. Charlie Winburn's campaign staff for his Web page. The Rev. Charlie Winburn directed his campaign staff to alter a news photograph showing him with a controversial former…
Jonathan Queen
Jonathan Queen Jonathan Queen JONATHAN QUEEN incorporates toys, insects, plants and other objects into meticulously-rendered paintings that move beyond traditional still life and into the narrative and allegorical realms. His paintings can be seen year-round at Miller Gallery, where he'll be featured in The Toy Show beginning Nov. 23. Here are five things important…
Knifs Go to ’11’
So I grab my new Pernicious Knifs CD (11 Songs, aka Almond Extract) and reach for my bottle of Crystal Light Cherry Pomegranate Immunity On The Go drink. I go to shake the bottle (as per instructions), and the drink sprays everywhere because I didn't fashion the lid down properly. I'm sprinkled with what looks…
News to Use
Learn Police Work The next session of the Cincinnati Police Department's Citizens Police Academy is Jan. 16 through March 5, 2008.Designed to provide better understanding between citizens and police, the meetings are 6-9 p.m. Wednesdays. Topics include laws of arrest, use of force, criminal investigation, the mental health response team, domestic violence and personal safety.…
Listening to My Voice Calling
I thought the only things the chronically homeless addict and the teenaged women had in common were literary readings on the same weekend and the relative precariousness of their lives. That's before I heard what they'd written. The one is black, thin going on skeletal, 40ish going on immortal. She's living on the streets outside…
The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965 (Columbia)
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR: BOB DYLAN LIVE AT THE NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL 1963-1965 1963-65, Not Rated By filming the Newport Folk Festival from 1963 through 1965, director Murray Lerner was able to record and preserve Bob Dylan's astonishing growth from a protest singer (1963) to an acoustic-based poetic songwriter (1964) to a…
Zinfandel: An American Story
We're flying to Omaha this Thanksgiving to visit my brother's family, so I shipped him a case of wine several weeks ago and asked him to stash it in the cellar. We'll be drinking a wide variety of things, but, as in past years, Zinfandel (that is, hearty red zin, not sweetish white zin) will…
Killer of Sheep: The Charles Burnett Collection (Milestone)
KILLER OF SHEEP: THE CHARLES BURNETT COLLECTION 1977, Not Rated African-American independent filmmaker Charles Burnett receives long-overdue recognition with this regal two-DVD set of his prime works, most notably his masterpiece Killer of Sheep. Completed in 1977 as Burnett's UCLA thesis project, the black-and-white, low-budget film is a revelation — a beautifully poetic yet…
Film: A Hollywood Manifesto
Fox Walden Dustin Hoffman has been along for Zach Helm's ride from screenwriter of Stranger Than Fiction to both writer and director of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (above). About six years ago, Zach Helm found himself at his own version of the crossroads. As a screenwriter for hire, he was making a mint doctoring…
Puscifer: “V” Is for Vagina
Maynard James Keenan attributes his reputation for being enigmatic and mysterious to not being in the press much. Tool's trippy, strange Art Metal was the first tip-off for me; the weirdo stage costumes sealed it (and read almost any of the press the singer has done and he seems more "seriously deranged" than "enigmatic"). Tool…
Arthur Alexander: Lonely Just Like Me: The Final Chapter
It was for the late Arthur Alexander that producer Rick Hall created the Muscle Shoals, Ala., sound in 1961. The mid-tempo ballad "You Better Move On" featured plaintively soulful, conversational vocals surrounded by tightly-syncopated music with a rustic, countrified aura and a persistently underlying sense of melancholy and menace. Aretha Franklin, Clarence Carter, Wilson Pickett…
Cover Story: CEA Run of Show
7 p.m. Doors open to the Taft Theatre 8 p.m. Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for Music Performance: Over the Rhine Hosts: Jen Dalton and Bob Herzog, Local 12 Awards: Jazz; Folk/Americana/Roots; Country Performance: Buffalo Killers Awards: Bluegrass; Singer/Songwriter; Hip Hop Performance: Bad Veins Awards: Alternative/Indie; Punk; Experimental/Electronic Performance: Wussy Awards: Rock; World Music; R&B/Funk Performance: Angels…
Well-Schooled Vandals and Official Buffoonery
Sean Hughes An unknown critic posted signs protesting the impending demolition of a school. Someone broke into Washington Park Elementary School early this week and hung signs protesting its demolition, which is underway. The school closed at the end of the 2006-07 school year and is being razed to make room for an expansion…
News: Conditional Victory
Electability Threshold for top nine city council candidates Many political observers were shocked last week when all nine incumbents won re-election to Cincinnati City Council, despite some members facing troubles that ranged from a police investigation of an alleged assault involving a councilwoman to an organized mass mailing campaign that tried to single out…
Living Out Loud: : Thinking of Patti Deutsch
Why actress Patti Deutsch came into my mind tonight — and when I say tonight, I really mean at 2 in the morning — I have no idea. Here I am sitting at my desk thinking of her. I'm at my desk because I can't sleep. I like living downtown just fine, but I have…
Music: Sophomoric Stress
Fueled By Ramen The Academy Is …: Another fine Chicago export There are a lot of clichés in Rock, like the drugs, like the sex, like the drugs while having sex with a room of women, men, possibly goats … also doing drugs. But no cliché is more prevalent than the one that says…
Cover Story: CEA Nominees
Alternative/Indie Bad Veins If betting on who will be the next band from Cincinnati to get signed, this engaging duo — who make sublime, orchestral Indie Pop — would be the place to put your money. The Chocolate Horse Warm and artsy, The Chocolate Horse's organic Indie Rock was on glorious display within the grooves…
Year Long Disaster: Year Long Disaster
As the original icons of Rock enter their golden years, their children are picking up their parents' banners and running them a little further up musical hills that were taken in the '60s and '70s. The latest case in point is Year Long Disaster, led by vocalist/guitarist Daniel Davies, the son of Kinks guitarist Dave…
Cover Story: CEA: We Thank You!
New Artist of the Year Sponsor: Dewey's Pizza BRINK New Music Showcase Sponsors: Dewey's Pizza, Miller High Life Media Partners: CityBeat, WNKU-FM, CinCW, Local 12 Event Partners: Taft Theatre, Prestige Audio Visual, Christian Moerlein 2007 Music Awards Nominating Committee Mike Breen, CityBeat music editor, Chairman; Brian Baker, CityBeat; Sara Beiting, CityBeat; Ryan Bussey, Camp Buzz;…
Onstage: 25 and Still Alive
Kurt Strecker MUSE Director Catherine Roma hopes the music group's focus on peace and justice can help end violence in Cincinnati. There is a story about a cellist in Sarajevo during wartime. He's out playing a solo piece when someone stops him and asks, "Why are you playing while the bombs are dropping?" He…
UC Success Leads to Dreams of College Football Playoffs
Jerry Dowling The present arrangement in college football is plenty good enough for as many decent purposes as college football can accommodate. It's one of few remaining examples of our restraint as a people that we don't go all the way on our deal with the devil and line up a full-blown tournament for…
Cover Story: CEA Hall of Fame: H-Bomb Ferguson
Jason Kidwell H-Bomb Ferguson Forget blow-dried scenesters and self-absorbed spotlight stealers. It's original and compelling artists like H-Bomb Ferguson that halls of fame were designed to lionize for the lucky contemporaries who knew the man and for the envious generations who will only know his music. It's been nearly a year since Robert Ferguson,…
Prayer and Spirituality Aid Healing
Ihave witnessed medical miracles, as prayers were offered for my father during his chronic illnesses and he went into remission from multiple cancers. His healing defied logic and science and clearly included a spiritual dimension. Prayer has often been shown to be potentially beneficial on one's health journey. In athletes, studies have shown that faith…
Doubt
Sandy Underwood Rabbit Hole, which was produced by Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati in September, is a popular play this year. I like to report annually about how our local theater scene stacks up against what's playing on stages around the country, as reported by American Theatre magazine. The most frequently produced play in 2007-08…
Hal Sparks Rocks
Almost as weird as when kids' TV star "Steve" from Blue's Clues turned up collaborating with The Flaming Lips back in 2003, who'da thunk that sweet and smarmy Hal Sparks, former host of E's Talk Soup, would wind up with an A1 lineup of guitarists on this year's most blistering, thinking man's Metal release. On…
Pregnancy Teaches Us How To Live
Having a baby inside my body changed me. Every day I stood (or more often sat) in awe of the full-grown human being rumblin' in my huge belly. By the end of the nine months I was ready to have the little guy, and I gained so much more than I could have imagined. Every…
Hitchcock Better ThanImagined
(Re: "Testify: How Was Robyn Hitchcock?" post on CityBeat's Spill It blog about Hitchcock's show last week at the Southgate House.) He was awesome. Of course! First time my wife and I had seen him (she got me hooked on him 15 years ago), and we were both impressed. The big surprise was the quality…
The Bridge Cafe
Jennifer Kagy, co-owner of One Restaurant & Lounge (along with her husband Sean), recently joined The Bridge Cafe in Milford as executive chef. The Bridge Cafe serves fair-trade coffee and breakfast and lunch including homemade soups, sandwiches, panini, salads and fresh baked pastries. … The northern suburbs are seeing some new eatery action as well.…
What About Brian: The Complete Series (Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
WHAT ABOUT BRIAN: THE COMPLETE SERIES 2006, Not Rated This ABC ensemble series enjoyed a brief two-season run — really no more than a season due to its initial start as a midseason replacement in 2006 and it's shortened "second" season in 2007. A grand total of 24 complete episodes exist in the soapy…
Riverview East Academy
CityBeat Archive Classrooms are arranged in "pods." The front entrance is in the back of the building. Oh, and did I mention it rests 17 feet above ground on stilts? As one of only two Cincinnati Public Schools to house grades K-12 in one building — well, maybe not one building exactly — it's…
