FRIDAY 24
EVENT: INTERNET CAT VIDEO FESTIVAL
In its quest to create a “purrfect” summer for visitors, the Cincinnati Art Museum is mixing serious scholarship — Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt, an exhibition of 80 cat-related objects, plus three smaller shows — with the sublime silliness of the Internet Cat Video Festival.The latter is a free public event occurring this weekend. The festival’s hour-long program of some 100 videos was curated by Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center, where outdoor screenings of the short cat films have drawn thousands. The festival is on a world tour this year, coming to Cincinnati after stops in Japan, Australia, Germany, Memphis, Boston, Portland and more.The Internet Cat Video Festival occurs outdoors here at 9:15 p.m. Friday at Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park, right after the 5-9 p.m. Art After Dark: Cats and Cocktails party at the museum. (Heavy rain and/or lightning will cancel the outdoor screening.) There will also be an indoor screening for families at 11 a.m. Saturday at the museum’s Fath Auditorium. Cat attire is encouraged for this, but masks are prohibited and, of course, actual cats are not allowed in the building, much as they might want to see this. Seating is first-come, first-served. 9:15 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. Saturday. Free. Cincinnati Art Museum, Eden Park, cincinnatiartmuseum.org.
MUSIC: THE NORTHSIDE MUSIC FESTIVAL
The Northside Music Festival was conceived by local arts and music Renaissance dude Jason Snell in 2007. The festival soon grew to two nights, and Snell brought in his pals Mike Gibboney and Scot Torres to help organize and manage the event. Heavy on local artists (while gradually adding touring acts), the Northside Music Festival has taken over Northside Tavern for nine straight years now. The 2016 festival takes place Friday and Saturday, utilizing three stages at the Tavern — the larger back-room stage, plus one in the front room and one in the courtyard (which is outside). Music begins each day at 7:30 p.m. in the courtyard, and the event is completely free. Northside Tavern, 4163 Hamilton Ave., Northside, northsidetav.com.
MUSIC: NO RESPONSE FESTIVAL
The Woodward Theater plays host to the first No Response Festival, the brainchild of John Rich and Jon Lorenz, who have helped keep experimental music alive in Cincinnati for the past decade-plus by operating various venues, booking shows and hosting the influential Art Damage radio show. The event features a broad range of unique styles, from Noise Rock to Electronic Ambient music and beyond. As Rich writes in the press release, “Some stuff is harsh and intense, some stuff is real mellow, some stuff is creepy, some stuff is just weird.” Friday’s lineup (which begins at 9 p.m.) features C. Spencer Yeh, formerly a key member of the local experimental music scene, in his first performance in Cincinnati since moving to New York several years ago. Yeh — whose music has combined electronics, vocals and violin — is an extremely active artist in New York, working in a variety of formats and having his work presented at museums and festivals all over the world. Also on the bill Friday: Bill Orcutt (formerly of Harry Pussy), Chicago’s Kevin Drumm and LA’s Sissy Spacek, led by Noisecore favorite and multimedia artist John Wiese. 9 p.m. Friday. $15. Woodward Theater, 1404 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, woodwardtheater.com.
MUSIC: PASSION PIT
Last November, during an uncommonly candid conversation with novelist and burgeoning podcaster Bret Easton Ellis, Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos said he couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t hate himself. Angelakos also discussed his bipolar disorder and unequivocally came out as gay. Those facts can’t help but inform listeners’ perception of Passion Pit, the musical outfit Angelakos founded in 2007 — the irony is that such exuberant, shiny music could spring from such apparent personal turmoil.“The greatest part of Passion Pit is that people are dancing and singing along to these super-depressing lyrics — what better way to deal with that than in this populist sound?” Angelakos said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune late last year. “It’s like mainlining caffeine when you get to sing these songs in front of people who are just as into it as you are.” 7 p.m. $45.30. Bogart’s, Corryville, bogarts.com.
MUSIC: KISHI BASHI
Over the course of his decade-and-a-half-long career, Kaoru Ishibashi has enjoyed the best of all possible worlds, exploring the boundaries of Electronic Pop with his own band, Jupiter One, helping Kevin Barnes realize his creative visions with of Montreal and establishing his own unique sonic platform with the distinct solo project that bears the pseudonymous title Kishi Bashi. Raised in Norfolk, Va. by his college professor parents, after his 1994 graduation from high school, Ishibashi attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston where he studied film scoring. After college, he utilized his estimable violin skills as an accompanist for the likes of Regina Spektor, Alexi Murdoch and Sondre Lerche. As Kishi Bashi, Ishibashi’s live violin-and-vocals performance is enhanced through the use of looping and beat boxing and is an amazing evocation of his studio work. Decidedly different, mind-bendingly expansive, breathtakingly unique and still endearingly accessible, Kishi Bashi is ready to provide the soundtrack for the journey to the center of your mind’s eye. 8 p.m. Free. Fountain Square, Fifth and Vine streets, Downtown, myfountainsquare.com.
ONSTAGE: THE FISHERMAN’S WIFE
If the 2016 Cincy Fringe Festival built your appetite for weird theater, you don’t have to suffer withdrawal, thanks to the folks at Know Theatre. Inspired by a famous erotic Japanese woodcut, this sex farce by Steve Yockey, whose Pluto was a surreal hit for Know back in 2014, is a wicked tale about a stale marriage between a fisherman and his wife that gets a jolt from a couple of ocean-dwelling deviants. The cast features some wild and crazy local actors including Miranda McGee and Eileen Earnest, so be prepared for a naughty night at the seashore. Through July 16. $20; free performances on select Wednesdays. Know Theatre, 1120 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-300-5669, knowtheatre.com.
EVENT: PLAY LIBRARY AT PEOPLE’S LIBERTY
As part of People’s Liberty’s $15,000 Globe grants initiative, Julia Fischer, who has been in the toy and children’s entertainment industry for more than 12 years, will open her Play Library project at the organization’s Globe Gallery on Friday evening. Similar to other lending libraries, the Play Library will loan out toys and games to kids and adults of all ages in an effort to connect families, friends and communities through play. Visitors at the kick-off event will enter through the gallery and sign up for a library card before heading upstairs for the party. Reception 6-10 p.m. Friday. Free. Globe Gallery, 1805 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, playlibrary.org.
EVENT: PANEGYRI
A Cincinnati summer staple and repeatedly voted as one of the best church festivals in town by CityBeat readers, the 42nd-annual Panegyri brings a taste of the Mediterranean to Finneytown. This weekend’s event features everything from live traditional Greek bouzouki music and dance performances to Greek history exhibits to food, drinks, rides, raffles and more. Grab a gyro or slice of Greek pizza and a bottle of Cretan wine from the taverna before scarfing down a baklava sundae. Or visit the pastry shop to take home a box of kataifi, melomakarona and more. The Greek word “philoxenia” means “love for strangers,” and it’s this notion that drives the members of Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox church to hand-prepare traditional and delicious Greek meals and create an immersive cultural experience for guests year after year after year. 5-11 p.m. Friday; 3-11 p.m. Saturday; 1-8 p.m. Sunday. $2; free ages 12 and younger. Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 7000 Winton Road, Finneytown, panegyri.com.
EVENT: OTR BEER FEST
“Cincinnati’s only canned beer festival” marks the end of Cincinnati Beer Week. This craft can party takes place in Washington Park and includes hundreds of different canned brews, food trucks and live music. 6-10 p.m. Friday; 2-10 p.m. Saturday. Free admission; $5 drinking wristband. Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, otrbeerfest.com.
SATURDAY 25
MUSIC: THE HARLEQUINS
Three years isn’t an inordinate amount of time for a band to allow an album’s worth of material to coalesce. For Cincinnati’s The Harlequins, the gap since the band’s last releases — the Sex Change EP and a rarities collection, Bee Sides: Volume 1, both issued in 2013, and a live album from 2014 — has been filled with almost everything except material for its new album, One With You.Just prior to Sex Change, the local Psych/Pop/Garage trio — guitarist/vocalist Michael Oliva, bassist Alex Stenard and drummer Rob Stamler — played Texas’ famed South by Southwest festival/conference, and the musicians were considering how to proceed in capitalizing on the momentum of releasing their self-titled full-length in 2012 and the aforementioned EP. They had been working on material — new songs and a backlog of older material that they’d never brought to the studio, plus a revised version of “Hear Me Out” from their eponymous album that they wanted to explore further. The options seemed limitless.The Harlequins are banging in their stalls to tour behind the vinyl/digital download release of One With You, which comes out Saturday. But an injury nearly took touring off the table. The Harlequins play a free show Saturday at MOTR Pub. More info: motrpub.com.
ONSTAGE: KRISTIN CHENOWETH
Kristin Chenoweth may stand at just 4 feet 11 inches, but she has a voice as powerful as the Empire State Building is tall. A Broadway star whose career also includes acclaimed television and film roles, Chenoweth appears at Riverbend Music Center on Saturday with the Cincinnati Pops under the baton of John Morris Russell. Chenoweth’s success as a Broadway leading lady propelled her into television and film. The list of her performances across genres is truly staggering: seven Broadway shows, almost a dozen Off-Broadway ones, 24 films and such television programs as The West Wing, Pushing Daisies and Glee. (She even briefly had her own network series, Kristin.) And all that doesn’t even count her many concerts.Her program with the Pops is billed as “a charming evening of Broadway and Hollywood.” But according to Chenoweth, there will be much more — everything from her beloved Broadway to Gospel and American Songbook classics to Pop. Kristin Chenoweth appears with the Cincinnati Pops 8 p.m. Saturday at Riverbend. More info/tickets: cincinnatisymphony.org.
EVENT: CINCINNATI PRIDE PARADE
More than 60 participating organizations kick off the biggest day of Pride with this dazzling, colorful, noisy, interactive and mesmerizing parade. The route begins on Seventh Street and winds its way down Vine, then veers left on Freedom Way, continuing down Main Street. The procession comes to an end at Saywer Point and Yeatman’s Cove, where the celebration rolls right into this year’s Cincinnati Pride Festival. 11 a.m. Free. Route begins on Seventh Street, Downtown, cincinnatipride.org/parade.
EVENT: CINCINNATI PRIDE FESTIVAL
After a morning filled with the vibrant colors and jubilant crowds of the Cincinnati Pride Parade, the celebration transitions right into the pinnacle of Pride Week — the Cincinnati Pride Festival. The 2016 festival takes over Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove with bites from local eateries, a family-fun zone, more than 100 vendors, including Playhouse in the Park, the Freestore Foodbank, Love Must Win, Inc. and many others, plus two stages of entertainment. Performers include MUSE, the Cincinnati Men’s Chorus and the Diverse City Youth Chorus, with drag shows taking place throughout the day. Pop duo Karmin headlines at 8 p.m. on the Mainstage. Noon-9 p.m. Saturday. Free. Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove, 705 E. Pete Rose Way, Downtown, cincinnatipride.org.
MUSIC: KINO KIMINO
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Kim Talon has been making music for more than a decade. The Canadian native was once one half of eclectic L.A.-based duo Eagle and Talon before she struck out on her own and moved to New York City, where she released an album under the name JAN in 2012. Talon’s latest project, Kino Kimino, recently released its debut, Bait is for Sissies, which was recorded at Sonic Youth’s Echo Canyon West studio with Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo on guitar and Steve Shelley on drums. That’s some impressive Indie Rock star power, but Talon is clearly the star of the show and the key to the appeal of Bait, which mixes dynamic Post Punk with winding song structures, hyper-melodic Art Pop hooks and Talon’s captivating vocals and lyrics. Fans of PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney and Tweens will likely instantly fall in love with Kino Kimino’s deft blend of sweetness and discord. 10 p.m. Saturday. Free. The Comet, 4579 Hamilton Ave., Northside, cometbar.com.
EVENT: CELESTIAL SIPS
Enjoy a celestial alcohol tasting under the stars as you sample four wines and a bourbon while contemplating the wonders of the universe. This unique Cincinnati Observatory event also lets participants get a glimpse at Jupiter and Mars through the oldest public telescope still in use in the Western Hemisphere (if the sky is clear, of course). Munch on hors d’oeuvres, take a tour of the historic buildings, bid at the silent auction and contribute to the educational programs that reach more than 26,000 people annually. With a premium ticket, enjoy a set of limited-edition etched wine glasses and a premium champagne beverage. 8-10:30 p.m. Saturday. $60; $100 premium. 3489 Observatory Place, Mount Lookout, cincinnatiobservatory.org.
EVENT: WESTFEST
The 15th-annual WestFest promises a weekend of beer, food and music that both West-Siders and East-Siders alike can enjoy. With more than 15 food trucks serving everything from deep-fried Twinkies and garlic fries to pulled pork tacos and bacon and cheese steak burgers, plus more than 20 live local bands, it’s no wonder this street party pulls in 30,000 people. There will also be a Family Friendly Kid Zone with rides, games and contests for the younger crowd. 1 p.m.-midnight Saturday; 1-10 p.m. Sunday. Free. 3703 Harrison Ave., Cheviot, cheviotwestfest.com.
EVENT: THREE YEARS OF THIRST
Rhinegeist was justified when they dubbed their upcoming three-year-anniversary party “a fantastical birthday bash,” which serves as a heartfelt thank-you to its many loyal Geisters. The highlight? Rarity releases, which take place every hour on the hour, for a total of 12 releases, one of which features a brand-new brew slated to join the regular Rhinegeist lineup. But that’s just one aspect of this eclectic party, which includes a outdoorsy Campgeist theme, live music and DJs all day and night, plus games and prizes benefitting local nonprofits and a hefty dose of unusual surprises (perhaps a mechanical puma?). Kids are welcome through 8 p.m., before things “get a bit messy.” Noon-2 a.m. Saturday. Free to attend; RSVP online. Rhinegeist, 1910 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, facebook.com/rhinegeist.
SUNDAY 26
EVENT: OPERA IN THE PARK
The 96th-annual Cincinnati summer opera festival kicked off last week at the Aronoff Center with Strauss’ whimsical Die Fledermaus and the groundbreaking world-premiere of LGBTQ opera Fellow Travelers, set during the McCarthy Era’s Lavender Scare. This week, the opera brings libretto to the public with a free performance in Washington Park. Opera in the Park features a selection of opera and musical theater favorites performed by the stars of the 2016 Cincinnati Opera season, along with the Cincinnati Opera Chorus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Food trucks will be onsite and alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase. 7 p.m. Sunday. Free. Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, cincinnatiopera.org.
EVENT: DOG DAY OF SUMMER AT SPRING GROVE
For 364 days a year, dogs are not permitted on the grounds of Spring Grove Cemetery in an effort to ensure a safe, disruption-free experience during visitations and burial services. But a special exception is made on their annual Dog Day, when guests are invited to explore more than 400 acres alongside their favorite canine. Wander through more than 45 miles of paved roads showcasing thousands of plant species or participate in an organized Dogwood Trail Walk at 10 a.m. Have your pooch star in his very own pet portrait before heading to a luau picnic for some snacks straight off the grill. Adoptable pups from local rescue Tails of Hope will also be onsite. 9 a.m. Sunday. Free with donation to Tails of Hope; find wish list items at tailsofhope.org. 4521 Spring Grove Ave., Spring Grove Village, springgrove.org.
EVENT: CARRIAGE HOUSE ON-FARM DINNER SERIES
Watch chefs prepare multiple courses on a wood-fired oven and grill, then indulge in the dishes on the farm’s open-air dining terrace. Each dinner in the series is prepared by a different chef; this evening features Ryan Santos of pop-up restaurant Please. 5 p.m. Sunday. $105. Carriage House Farm, 10251 Miamiview Road, North Bend, carriagehousefarmllc.com.
EVENT: POP UP DRAG BRUNCH
Local drag queens keep the Pride party going with a series of searing performances at 21 Museum Hotel’s restaurant, Metropole. Chef Jared Bennett prepares a family-style brunch accompanied by a welcome mimosa and Metropole’s signature cocktails. 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. $35; call 513-578-6660 to make reservations. Metropole, 609 Walnut St., Downtown, metropoleonwalnut.com.
GET INVOLVED: LEELAH ALCORN MEMORIAL HIGHWAY CLEANUP
Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old transgender woman from Kings Mills, tragically committed suicide on a highway on Dec. 8, 2014, leaving behind a poignant note on her Tumblr page that ended with a plea: “Fix society. Please.” The Leelah Alcorn Memorial Highway organization has adopted a section of Interstate 71 and hosts four cleanups per year in memory of Leelah, simultaneously hoping to educate the public and promote tolerance. Volunteer to help pick up litter along the highway. 10 a.m.-noon. Sign up at [email protected]. 658 Corwin Nixon Blvd., South Lebanon, leelahhighway.wordpress.com.
COMEDY: JARED LOGAN
When comedian Jared Logan was in grade school, he was picked on by boys who had more of what he calls “athletic prowess.” “When I was in fifth grade they asked us, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ ” he says. Apparently every boy said, “Basketball player.” “That didn’t make a lot of sense because we lived in West Virginia. We were all white, most of the kids were short; some had nutrition problems. ‘Really, Tyler? Your family only eats Pop Tarts.’ ” Logan went on to major in theater, which he found to be a liability in the job market. “I was at an interview and this guy goes, ‘I see theater on your resume. Is that going to interfere with your ability to work?’ ” Logan told him, “No, I’m very responsible. I’ll be here at 9 a.m. ready to go. And he says, ‘Yeah, but you’re an actor. You could be lying to me and I wouldn’t even know.’ I’m not a sociopath. When you get a theater degree you don’t get special powers.” Thursday-Sunday. $8-$14. Go Bananas, 8410 Market Place Lane, Montgomery, gobananascomedy.com.
