THURSDAY 28
MUSIC: EMMYLOU HARRIS
With all due respect to Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline, where the hell is the movie that celebrates Emmylou Harris’ life? Of course, it’s a question that practically answers itself — Harris’ career and life are so factually cinemascopic, most filmmakers would be daunted by the dual prospects of trying to figure out which of her stories to tell and how to make her unbelievable accomplishments seem like they haven’t been fictionalized for dramatic effect. After graduating high school as class valedictorian and earning a drama scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Harris fired her musical ambition by learning the songs of Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger and Joan Baez. She dropped out, moved to New York City and waited tables while playing the Folk circuit during Greenwich Village’s heyday. She married, recorded her debut, Gliding Bird, had a baby girl and divorced in short order. When she resumed performing, she was spotted by members of the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1971; Chris Hillman recommended her to former Byrds/Flying Burrito Brothers member Gram Parsons, who was seeking a female collaborator for his debut solo album, GP. That fortuitous pairing changed Harris’ life in countless ways. Parsons gave Harris a master class in Country’s history, introduced her to The Louvin Brothers and lit the path she’s followed over the past four and a half decades. Emmylou Harris pushes the Country/Americana envelope at PNC Pavilion with Lyle Lovett & His Large Band. 7 p.m. Thursday. $40-$72. Riverbend/PNC Pavilion, 6295 Kellogg Ave., California, riverbend.org.
ONSTAGE: WEST SIDE STORY
Although it’s been around for six decades, West Side Story still resonates with a timeless tale of worlds sadly divided by ethnic differences, culminating in a teenage tragedy. Of course, West Side Story is a latter-day version of Romeo and Juliet, moved to urban New York City with battling gangs replacing rival families. But the emotions and forces keeping Tony and Maria apart remain powerful, especially when performed by teens involved in the 35th summer of the Cincinnati Young People’s Theatre — this year’s cast includes students from 32 area schools. Leonard Bernstein’s memorable score includes iconic songs like “Tonight,” “America” and “Somewhere.” Through Aug. 7. $16 adults; $14 seniors and college students; $12 high school students and younger. Covedale Center for the Performing Arts, 4990 Glenway Ave., Covedale, 513-241-6550, cincinnatilandmarkproductions.com.
FRIDAY 29
EVENT: PRICE HILL CREATIVE COMMUNITY FESTIVAL
Eddy Kwon, director of Price Hill’s MYCincinnati youth orchestra, doesn’t like music festivals, so he decided to start his own and do it right. The inaugural Price Hill Creative Community Festival takes place Friday and Saturday evenings, featuring his youth orchestra, five MYCincinnati artists-in-residence, local musicians, community storytelling, food and more. Kwon sees this as the beginning of an answer for large and complex social questions that he keeps encountering. “There’s a huge lack of diversity in the kinds of performers that most festivals book, and because of that there’s a big lack of diversity in the audience that goes to see those performers,” Kwon says. “At best, (I) feel a little uncomfortable, and at worst, really hate being there. I think it’s a similar experience with a lot of folks of color or other marginalized identities.” The Price Hill Creative Community Festival aims to change that. Kwon hopes this endeavor will be a viable model for how to truly build a diverse and inclusive community through the arts. And organizers hope the festival will encourage more people to learn about MYCincinnati. Operating as a program of Price Hill Will, a nonprofit community development and revitalization organization, it currently serves more than 90 students in Price Hill with free intensive music education, lessons, tutoring and performance opportunities. The festival takes place Friday and Saturday at four venues around Price Hill. More info: creativecommunityfestival.org.
MUSIC: ADJUST YOUR EYES MUSIC & ART FESTIVAL
The Adjust Your Eyes Music & Art Festival has grown and shape-shifted since it was founded in 2006 as a way for local label Grasshopper Juice Records to showcase the work of area artists and raise money for various charities and organizations. The festival has picked a different beneficiary of proceeds and donations each year and has raised thousands of dollars for everything from community radio station WAIF to Susan G. Komen for The Cure. This year, AYE takes over Northside. The festival’s dedication to shining a spotlight on a broad range of musical styles is unwavering; once again this year, AYE presents various shades of everything from Rock and Punk to Hip Hop and Electronic music. Events run Friday through Sunday. All performances are free. Donations will be collected for the Apple Street Market, a planned community-run grocery store aimed at serving Northside residents. Friday through Sunday at various Northside venues. Find the full schedule and more info at adjustyoureyes.com.
MUSIC: I PREVAIL
It would be difficult to imagine a wilder ride than the one taken by suburban Detroit Post Hardcore/Metal outfit I Prevail. The quartet — which expands to a touring sextet — coalesced in 2013, played a handful of shows and immediately began assembling its debut recording, 2014’s Heart vs. Mind on Fearless Records. The eight-song EP featured mostly original material in a signature style of Electronic-flecked Metal, characterized by the clean/dirty vocals of Brian Burkheiser and Eric Vanlerberghe, respectively, as well as the manic yet melodic guitar squall of Steve Menoian and Jordan Berger and the Valhalla-or-bust drum thunder of Lee Runestad. The band’s ace-in-the-hole on Heart vs. Mind was a scorchingly brilliant cover of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space,” which the band posted on YouTube prior to the EP’s release. The cover created a massive buzz, landing the band in the lower reaches of Billboard’s Hot 100 singles but vaulting them into the Top 25 of the Mainstream Rock Songs chart. Fiercely proud of its Detroit heritage and passionately committed to the idea that its music and message have to be relevant before presented to the world, I Prevail is perfectly poised to be the next big voice of Post Hardcore. 6 p.m. doors Friday. $15. Bogart's, 2621 Vine St., Corryville, bogarts.com.
EVENT: CFTA STREET FOOD FESTIVAL
More than 30 local food trucks are heading to Blue Ash’s Summit Park this weekend for the Cincinnati Food Truck Association’s third-annual Street Food Festival. Imbibe craft brews from MadTree, Urban Artifact, Old Firehouse and Ei8ht Ball while making your way through a tempting hoard of food trucks; participating eateries include C’est Cheese, Catch-a-Fire Pizza, streetpops, Harvest, Red Sesame and Urban Grill. Live music takes place at the park throughout the day, with DJ Nate the Great playing between sets. 11-9 p.m. Friday. Free to attend. Summit Park, 4335 Glendale Milford Road, Blue Ash, cincinnatifoodtruckassociation.org.
EVENT: ART AFTER DARK
Dust off your ’67 Chevy Impala and reverse your way to Art After Dark: Summer of Love. The Cincinnati Art Museum is offering full access to its galleries after hours with a special ’60s theme. Enjoy live Reggae music from local band The Cliftones in the Alice Bimel Courtyard from 6-8 p.m. and hourly guided tours of the museum’s dazzling permanent collections. Admission is, as always, free, and appetizers and drinks will be available for purchase. Be sure to reserve a tour if you’re interested, and get there early for good parking. It’s all in the name of hot summer love. 5-9 p.m. Friday. $4 parking. 953 Eden Park Drive, Mount Adams, cincinnatiartmuseum.org/artafterdark.
ART: CHASE PUBLIC’S RESPONSE PROJECT
This Friday, Chase Public — Northside’s collaborative space for art and assembly — hosts its monthly Response Project at the Contemporary Arts Center, where participating writers, artists, performers and thinkers will be responding to Do Ho Suh’s Passage installation, currently on view at the museum. Suh’s life-size fabric replicas of domestic structures that seem to float in space will be the catalyst for Chase Public’s selected participants, including local performing artists Napoleon Maddox, Elese Daniel, Kendall Jolley, Jennifer Simone and Justin West, to react and perform 10-minute “responses” to the work. 7-9 p.m. Friday. Free. Contemporary Arts Center, 44 E. Sixth St., Downtown, contemporaryartscenter.org, chasepublic.org.
SATURDAY 30
MUSIC: TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND
It’s been said many times being in a Rock band is a lot like a marriage, but what if your Rock band was your marriage? For Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, that theoretical supposition is a real-life circumstance. For nearly a decade, guitarists/vocalists Tedeschi and Trucks have navigated the normal pitfalls of married life while simultaneously managing the often treacherous peaks and valleys of the studio and road, first with Soul Stew Revival and then with the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Let Me Get By, the band’s debut for Fantasy Records, marks the first album written entirely within the Tedeschi Trucks Band family; guitarist Doyle Bramhall II is the only non-band member to contribute to the writing. Let Me Get By is a master class in style assimilation and translation, as Tedeschi, Trucks and their talented crew begin with a framework of electric Blues and fold in elements of Stax and Muscle Shoals Soul and Pop to create a warm and personal style that finds them nodding in many directions while remaining unique, engaging and authentic. And married. 7 p.m. Saturday with Los Lobos and the North Mississippi Allstars. $48-$59. Riverbend/PNC Pavilion, 6295 Kellogg Ave., California, riverbend.org.
EVENT: BUCKEYE BEER BASH
Beer is king at Jungle Jim’s, and the Fairfield location is paying tribute with another local brew bonanza. The Buckeye Beer Bash celebrates everything Ohio has to offer in terms of beer and breweries. Tickets get you a special glass for tasting and samples of Buckeye brews of your choice from breweries like MadTree, Mt. Carmel, Listermann, Jackie O’s and Warped Wing. The inaugural fest is adults-only and will take place in the Snake House. Live music from Strange Love and bites from local food trucks Bonelicker’s and Renegade Street Eats make it a full package. 6-10 p.m. Saturday. $25 pre-sale; $30 day of; $15 non-drinker. Jungle Jim’s, 5440 Dixie Highway, Fairfield, junglejims.com.
EVENT: THIRSTY 4 HISTORY
History and beer craft a perfect pairing during Thirsty 4 History at the Promont House Museum in Milford. Operated by the Greater Milford Area Historical Society, this 1865 Victorian mansion was once home to John M. Pattison, Ohio’s 43rd governor, and features period-authentic furnishings, exhibits and a reference library. Saturday’s event will allow guests to explore the house and grounds on docent-led tours and also enjoy cold beer from local and regional breweries like Ei8ht Ball, Fat Head’s and Old Firehouse. Tickets include six four-ounce beer tastings, tapas-style food and live Bluegrass and Country music. 3-6 p.m. Saturday. $30; $20 non-beer. Promont House Museum, 906 Main St., Milford, milfordhistory.net.
EVENT: DANGER WHEEL
Feeling brave? Is “Danger” your middle name? Then grab a helmet (and probably some kneepads): This “adult downhill big-wheel race” pits teams against each other as drivers navigate a crash-course down 12th Street at break-neck speeds. Contenders vie for the coveted title of champion, with races running continuously until a winner is deemed victorious. Teams are comprised of a driver and two “pushers,” who launch the driver and their big wheel down the hill with a shove; the driver’s job is to navigate the course as fast as possible. The champion will be determined through a bracket system, with winners of each race advancing to the next round. Costumes are strongly encouraged, and certain protective equipment — helmets, gloves and closed-toed shoes — is required. Proceeds from the event benefit Pendleton beautification projects. Noon Saturday. $100 three-member team registration. 378 E. 12th St., Pendleton, dangerwheel.com.
SUNDAY 31
LIT: BILL BROUN
It isn’t unheard of for an art gallery to host activities other than exhibitions. Because they encourage concentration, galleries also make nice locales for concerts, literary readings, film screenings, yoga, meditation and more. But Thunder-Sky, Inc., the nonprofit Northside gallery established in 2009 to honor Cincinnati’s late outsider artist Raymond Thunder-Sky and further interest in similar then-overlooked art, nevertheless has accomplished quite a coup by getting novelist Bill Broun to appear there. He speaks at 6 p.m. Sunday for a public reading and discussion with the gallery’s co-founder, Keith Banner.Broun’s debut novel Night of the Animals, published this month by Ecco, seems poised to be a literary sensation. And that would be sweet as he spent 14 years writing it. It has already received feature coverage in The Guardian and Wall Street Journal. And novelist Mary Gaitskill has said it’s “the most beautiful, strange new novel I have read in years.” In a future dystopian Britain, a post-Brexit one where a suicide cult awaits the world’s end, a lower-class and mentally troubled elderly man named Cuthbert Handley sets out to free the animals in the London Zoo. He believes he is able to talk to them and he also partly believes this action might return his long-deceased older brother to him. 6 p.m. Sunday. Free. Thunder-Sky, Inc., 4573 Hamilton Ave., Northside, raymondthundersky.org.
MUSIC: G-EAZY
A strong work ethic has never been a problem for G-Eazy, so maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that in less than 18 months he followed up his breakthrough 2014 album, These Things Happen, with When It’s Dark Out, released late last year. The current album — his first under a deal with RCA Records — arrived on Dec. 4, despite the fact that G-Eazy toured into the early months of 2015 behind These Things Happen and needed to include time for the manufacture and promotional setup of the new album — a process that can take a few months for a major label release. When It’s Dark Out is an unusually musical and melodic Hip Hop album. G-Eazy also steps up his game lyrically, showing a personal and vulnerable side in a few songs in lieu of clichéd braggadocio. There are lyrics, like on “One of Them” or “Order More,” about living the big life of a Hip Hop star, but the songs “Drifting” and “Sad Boy” find G-Eazy contemplating the downsides and insecurities of fame, such as being separated from friends and family and questioning whether friends like him only because of his success. G-EAZY performs at Riverbend with Logic, Yo Gotti, YG and P. Reign. 6:30 p.m. Sunday. $30-$70. Riverbend, 6295 Kellogg Ave., California, riverbend.org.
ONSTAGE: SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company continues the time-honored tradition of bringing the Bard to the public for the 10th-annual Cincy Shakes summer Shakespeare in the Park tour. Renditions of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be performed by six talented actors from the CSC resident ensemble at local parks and community venues through the end of August. This year’s productions incorporate new costumes and scenic design — Macbeth is set in the Scottish wilderness, inspired by Medieval Pict warrior tribes; A Midsummer Night’s Dream features a new Hip Hop lean, with original music created in collaboration with Elementz; and Romeo and Juliet first meet at a modern-day superhero costume ball. All shows run less than two hours and are suitable for children. Find a full list of productions on Cincy Shakes’ site, and check out a performance of Macbeth Sunday at Washington Park. 7 p.m. Sunday. Free. Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, cincyshakes.com.
ONSTAGE: ALL THE GREAT BOOKS (ABRIDGED)
All the Great Books (abridged) endeavors to tackle more than 90 books in 90 minutes, in the thin guise of a high school remedial reading class. In reality, the show addresses only a handful of well-worn classics, such as War and Peace and The Odyssey, in any depth, giving just a sentence or two of attention to the other 80 or so. But therein lies the genius of the (abridged) packages — audience members who treasure Silas Marner or Middlemarch will delight in the blink-and-you-might-miss-it references, while patrons less versed in the classics will hardly notice that a joke passed them by while being entertained by the physical comedy and pop-culture nods. While the high-speed litany of literary references is dizzying and fun, at times the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor’s writing feels dusty. Great Books premiered in 2002, and much of the content could use a spit-shine, perhaps scrubbing references to Dane Cook or 1992’s The Mighty Ducks. All the Great Books (abridged) is a light, cornball show with high energy and a great cast. The show’s broad humor is easy to find your way into, bookworm or no. Audiences might not gain much new insight into the classics, but if they’re anything like me, they’ll be reminded why they fell in love with Don Quixote or Huckleberry Finn in the first place. All the Great Books (abridged) continues through Aug. 13. More info at cincyshakes.com.
TUESDAY 02
MUSIC: 98 DEGREES AT RIVERBEND
It might be nearly as hot outside as 98 Degrees’ namesake temperature, but it’s well-worth braving the heat for some genuine ’90s nostalgia. Featuring Cincinnati’s very own Nick and Drew Lachey (along with longtime Queen City resident Justin Jeffre and Canton’s Jeff Timmons), the band is joining forces with Ryan Cabrera, Dream and O-Town for their My2K Tour — its first national run of shows since touring with New Kids on the Block in 2013. Expect to be serenaded with hits like “Because of You” and “The Hardest Thing”; whether the boys will revive their signature vests (sans shirts) and camo pants is as of yet unclear. A free pre-concert cookout complete with live music from local bands begins 90 minutes before the show. 8 p.m. Tuesday. $33.50-$85. Riverbend Music Center, 6295 Kellogg Ave., California, riverbend.org.
