Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg has been proffering his brand of topical Folk Rock for more than 30 years now. Is it then cruel injustice or poetic fate that he’ll likely be forever best known in the U.S. as the British guy who teamed with Wilco to deliver the stellar Mermaid Avenue albums, which featured lyrics by his…
Pentatonix
Forget “love at first sight.” A cappella group Pentatonix had harmony at first sight. The group began when three friends from Texas spontaneously teamed up for a competition to meet the cast of Glee. Kirstie Maldonado, Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying didn’t win that competition, though. Further down the road, while Mitch was still a…
Disappears
Billed as primer for the Chicago quartet Disappears’ fourth full-length, to be released later this year, the freshly minted three-song EP Kone is a hypnotic dose of psyched-out Post Punk, an ominous soundtrack to a world that seems as dangerous and disturbing as ever. The title track opens with three minutes of what sounds like…
Ivan & Alyosha
It is always a fun endeavor to go to a smaller venue and see a band on the rise, to take in a group that has the potential for bigger and better things. That is the scenario for this week’s concert by Ivan & Alyosha at the Mayday in Northside. The band hails from Seattle…
Machine Gun Kelly
Hip Hop sensation Richard Colson Baker, better known as Machine Gun Kelly (or MGK), announced his current Lace Up tour in novel fashion; he became his own street team. Armed with a cardboard sign with the Sharpied message “Come to My Show” and a videographer to document the event, MGK hit the roadsides of his…
Pain & Gain
Bodybuilder Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) convinces his muscle-headed buddies Adrian (Anthony Mackie) and Paul (Dwayne Johnson) to join him in a scheme to kidnap and extort money from a shady businessman (Tony Shalhoub), but things go awry and the trio must figure out how to stay alive and one step ahead of the authorities and…
Nicky’s Family
Sir Nicholas Winton was a British stockbroker who, much like Oskar Schindler, secured the lives of close to 700 Czech and Slovak children before the onset of World War II, but Winton never spoke of his heroic efforts. If not for his wife discovering a collection of documents in their attic, the world would still…
Mud
Every critic out there has been talking about the recent transformation of Matthew McConaughey. On the heels of Bernie, Killer Joe and Magic Mike, McConaughey steps out front and center of Mud, the latest film from Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter), and presents the strongest argument yet to make us forget his days as the sexiest…
The Company You Keep
Robert Redford teams up with Steven Soderbergh’s screenwriting cohort Lem Dobbs (The Limey and Haywire) to adapt Neil Gordon’s novel about a former Weather Underground activist (Redford) who has been living in hiding but must emerge and seek to clear his name when a journalist (Shia LaBeouf) starts digging into the past and discovers secrets…
The Big Wedding
Justin Zackman, writer-producer of The Bucket List, adds directing to his bag of tricks with The Big Wedding (which is an English language remake of Mon frère se marie), a seemingly on-the-nose rom-com about a long-divorced couple (Robert DeNiro and Diane Keaton) forced to pretend to be married during the wedding of one of their…
Local Joblessness Falls Despite Slower Growth
Cincinnati’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate fell sharply in March, according to data released today by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). Michael Jones, research director at the University of Cincinnati Economics Center, says the numbers, while positive, were a slowdown from previous months. “The punchline is that growth is improving, but the…
Arthur Newman
Yet another holdout from last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Arthur Newman, based on a script from screenwriting veteran Becky Johnston (The Prince of Tides, Seven Years in Tibet) and unassuming direction from Dante Ariola (making his feature debut), follows an ordinary man (Colin Firth) who fakes his own death and re-imagines himself as a…
The Reconstituted Cincinnati Film Society Heads ‘Upstream’
Steady buzz for the Cincinnati Film Society (CFS) reboot emerged from the underground thanks to recent screenings at the Northside Tavern, which have given way to a new collaboration with The Greenwich, scheduled to kick off in May with The Towering Inferno (screenings set for the first Thursday of each month). There’s a real sense…
It’s Hard Out Here for a Veep
It’s often said that the vice president of the United States is “one heartbeat away” from the role of commander in chief. But if Veep (10 p.m., Sundays, HBO) is any indication, sometimes second-in-command is actually much further down the totem pole. Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as America’s first female vice president, Selina Meyer, a role…
Art Freaks Meet Geeks in Two Must-See Shows
T wo grand experiments fusing art, science and technology will be revealed Friday night. First, Disruptors at Artisans Enterprise Center in Covington. Curator Morgan Cobb explains the process behind the exhibit: Take one fine art appraiser who is plugged into the tech/startup community (Cobb), add innovators (aka disruptors) seeking exposure and relevancy, then introduce one…
Frampton and the Ballet: Dancing, Singing, Playing on the Edge
Few things good ever come easily, or without stepping outside one’s comfort zone. But persistence paid off in Cincinnati Ballet’s pursuit of Peter Frampton, the Grammy-winning guitar hero with a career spanning decades. And he’s still touring and making new music, including some original compositions written especially for Frampton & Cincinnati Ballet Live. Speaking by…
Spring Tonic
A “spring tonic” used to be a home remedy that was supposed to cleanse your system. As grannies would say, it was “good for what ails you.” This spring, I think I’ll take my tonic the tasty way — with gin. Of course, the G&T was once medicinal. In the days of the British Empire,…
New Edgecliff Adapts with Audiences in Mind
New Edgecliff Theatre completes its 15th season with David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Proof (onstage through Sunday at the Aronoff Center’s Fifth Third Bank Theater), a production providing ample evidence of NET’s strengths and emphasizing its mission statement “to create a powerful artistic experience utilizing local professionals and stressing the fundamental communion between actor and…
El Coyote (Review)
W hen George Clooney was in town filming The Ides of March, there were loads of spectators trying to catch a glimpse of the action and the actors. At one point, I was crossing the street on my way to lunch and overheard a woman — clearly someone who hadn’t been downtown in a very…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
On April 29, 1972, Kings Island opened its gates for the first time, welcoming guest from Cincinnati and across the country to its world of rides, games and overpriced snacks. The next year, America watched the country’s first family visit that very park — no, not the Nixons, the Bradys! In an episode filmed Aug.…
‘Falling’ For Photos
T he huge stone quarries that hide in the landscapes of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky are strange things, monsters of ruggedly carved-out negative space that — when abandoned and filled with water — attract illicit swimmers and divers. The surreal beauty of the quarries, wet and dry, also attracted Los Angeles photographer Elena Dorfman. After…
Video Questions Legitimacy of Parking Petitions
A YouTube video posted Sunday suggests that some of the parking plan referendum petition signatures might have been gathered without a legitimate witness, but city and county officials are so far unsure whether the video, which was posted anonymously, will amount to much. Under Ohio law, petitions require signatures from both a supporter, who must…
Morning News and Stuff
An amendment in the Ohio House budget bill last week would make it so universities have to decide between providing voting information to students or retaining millions of dollars in out-of-state tuition money. The amendment would make it so universities have to classify students as in-state — a classification that means lower tuition rates —…
Policy Group: Ohio House Tax Plan Favors Wealthy
The budget bill currently working through the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature would cut taxes in a way that disproportionately favors the wealthy, according to a new analysis from Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning policy group. The budget bill, which was passed the Republican-controlled Ohio House with a 61-35 vote on April 18, would cut state income…
On Sale Soon: Wiz/A$AP Rocky & Dylan/Wilco Package Tours
A pair of interesting local package-tour concerts were announced today for Riverbend's summer season. • On Saturday, July 6, Bob Dylan and his band are headlining the Americanarama Festival of Music when it comes to Riverbend Music Center. Dylan tours a lot, but making this jaunt extra special are the extra special guests — Wilco…
Morning News and Stuff
The Democratic Party’s nominating committee announced who it’s supporting for City Council Friday: Greg Landsman, who heads the Strive Partnership and worked for former Gov. Ted Strickland; Shawn Butler, Mayor Mark Mallory’s director of community affairs; Michelle Dillingham, a community activist; and the six incumbents, which include Laure Quinlivan, Chris Seelbach, Yvette Simpson, P.G. Sittenfeld,…
Your Weekend To Do List: 4/19-4/21
“Mandy Patinkin, holla.” That was Claire Danes’ shout-out to her Homeland co-star when she won an Emmy in 2012 for her role on the show. Fans across Cincinnati will be able to holla at him too (not really, that’s rude) as he performs with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Friday-Sunday. Sure, many know him as Saul…
Stage Door: Bounty of Choices
There's a bounty of theater choices to keep you entertained this weekend, with productions on venues all over town — including on several university campuses. Here are a few you might want to check out. New Edgecliff Theatre, which has presented shows at the Columbia Performance Center on Cincinnati's East Side for quite a few…
Ohio’s Support for Same-Sex Marriage Continues to Grow
An April 19 Quinnipiac University poll found a plurality of Ohioans now support same-sex marriage, continuing a trend first noted by a Washington Post poll in September. With a margin of error of 2.9 percent, the Quinnipiac poll found 48 percent of Ohio voters now support gay marriage, with 44 percent still in opposition. That's…
Morning News and Stuff
Boston and surrounding communities went through another night of terror and chaos last night, with the two Boston Marathon bombing suspects allegedly rampaging through the city just hours after their photos were released to the public by authorities. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the suspects, died after apparently suffering multiple wounds from a police shootout and…
LISTEN: “Pyro Hippies” by Vacation
Cincinnati Noise Pop trio Vacation had the first sampling of its forthcoming sophomore LP debuted by Spin.com today. The messy but blissfully melodic track "Pyro Hippies" is set for the band's Candy Waves album, scheduled for release on June 18 through New Jersey-based label, Don Giovanni Records. Vacation features singer/drummer Jerome Westerkamp (former singer/guitarist for…
David “Bones” Hebert Wrongful Death Lawsuit Expanded
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the death of David “Bones” Hebert, the gangly, inked vagabond, crafty burrito-maker, Punk rocker and rascal whose life ended abruptly one night in Northside, when Cincinnati Police Sergeant Andrew Mitchell fired two rounds into Bones’ thin frame. Bones, who was described by his army of acquaintances as peaceful and…
Record Store Day in Greater Cincinnati
This Saturday is Record Store Day, which began in 2007 as a way to celebrate (and draw business to) independent, brick-and-mortar record shops all over the globe. In the Cincinnati area, four longtime record shops with loyal fanbases will officially participate — Everybody’s Records in Pleasant Ridge, Shake It Records in Northside, Mole’s Record Exchange…
Morning News and Stuff
A new report from the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio (ACLU) found Ohio's poor are regularly victimized by illegal practices in courts that jail the state's poor for failing to pay fines they can't afford. The problem particularly afflicts the state's rural counties, which sometimes openly admit to jailing people even when they can't…
Fringe Has Sprung
Sure signs of springtime in Cincinnati: The Reds are playing (and winning), trees in Over-the-Rhine are covered with white blossoms — and Know Theatre has announced the lineup for the upcoming Cincinnati Fringe Festival. 2013 is a significant year for the Fringe: It's marking the 10th anniversary of the annual celebration of weird creativity. Last…
Budget Gap Threatens Streetcar Project
After years of delays and obstructionism, a Tuesday memo from City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. revealed a $22.7 million budget gap is threatening to put an end to the streetcar project, prompting Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls to call for a public hearing to address the issue. In the city manager’s memo, the city says it…
Event: Record Store Day
This Saturday is Record Store Day (RSD), which began in 2007 as a way to celebrate (and draw business to) independent, brick-and-mortar record shops all over the globe. In the Cincinnati area, four longtime record shops with loyal fanbases will officially participate — Everybody’s Records in Pleasant Ridge, Shake It Records in Northside, Mole’s Record…
Music: Fists of Love
At long last, Cincinnati Rock foursome Fists of Love will see the release of its debut album, I Sang My Heart Out to a Snake Once. The album has been “virtually street-ready” since FoL bassist/producer John Curley took a hiatus to tour the planet with his “other band,” The Afghan Whigs. Curley has returned from the road and…
Music: Beach House
Beach House’s gauzy head-trips are marked by the hypnotic voice of frontlady Victoria Legrand. Within the band’s recorded output — which is now at four increasingly ear-pleasing albums after the release of 2012’s Bloom, its second for SubPop — Legrand comes off as an otherworldly figure, an ethereal being who emits dreamy, mood-altering songs rife with ambiguous…
Onstage: Mandy Patinkin
The human hurricane known as Mandy Patinkin sets down this weekend for three concerts with the Cincinnati Pops, his first appearance with the Pops since 1991. The protean star of stage (Evita, Sunday in the Park with George), screen (The Princess Bride, Run Ronnie, Run) and television (Homeland, Criminal Minds) says that these performances mark…
Music: Jon Dee Graham
The story of Alejandro Escovedo’s rise from years of toiling in an Austin, Texas, Punk-tinged Roots Rock band, True Believers, to become (at age 62) one of Americana’s most recognized and exciting musicians is as inspiring as it now is familiar. But there’s another still-developing success story to come out of the great True Believers…
Music: Victor Wooten
Victor Wooten is the apex four-stringer, the DaVincian model for the guitar half of a rhythm section; he is the bassist’s bassist. Wooten is a success in more than mere esoteric terms; the Idaho native has won five Grammys and was named Bass Player of the Year by Bass Player magazine three consecutive years (and…
Guide to Going Green
WEDNESDAY APRIL 17 CORV Local Food Guide Release Party: Celebrate the release of the Central Ohio River Valley Local Foods Initiative 2013 guide (found inside this paper). 5:30-7:30 p.m. Free. Park + Vine, 1201 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, parkandvine.com. THURSDAY APRIL 18 Party for the Planet: An Earth Day Celebration: Local green businesses and organizations come…
Music: Chuck Mead and the Grassy Knoll Boys
Chuck Mead had a hell of a run with the band BR549 in the 1990s. The AltCountry outfit, named after the phone number Junior Samples would give out as part of a regular skit on that great American TV show Hee Haw, was one of the premier Rockabilly-band-with-a-Punk-edge groups of the day. They were kind…
Music: Akron/Family
Everything Akron/Family does is patently fascinating, wildly evocative and compellingly mysterious. The Brooklyn, N.Y., collective — with no connection to the northern Ohio city or each other as indicated by their name — assembled more than a decade ago and quickly became a central element of the Williamsburg scene. A/F’s latest, the just-released Sub Verses,…
More Than a Green Thumb
The phrase “Reduce, reuse, recycle” is an environmental mantra that has been drilled into us since the Environmental Protection Agency came up with the catchy slogan. And we’ve all read those “Top Tips to Be More Green” lists: Turn off the lights when you leave a room, switch to compact fluorescent blubs, wash only full…
Outside Recess
A c hild’s perfect day: clear sky, school friends, bikes, some tag, a playground and maybe, if they’re really lucky, a pool. Sounds spot on, right? In today’s plugged-in, digital age, not at all. Instead, try a soda, computer screen, remote control, some chips and a video game console. In fact, statistics show that children…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
Upon reading recent entertainment news, you may find yourself wondering, “Are awards shows are still happening?” The answer is yes, but not anything that really counts. The MTV Movie Awards took place Monday night, hosted by the Australian fireball that is Rebel Wilson. She’s stolen scenes in Bridesmaids, Pitch Perfect and Workaholics, and while she…
Curmudgeon Notes 4.17.2013
• Tuesday’s Enquirer abandoned its traditional timidity and published bloody color images of victims of Boston Marathon bombings. Good. I’m sure also there were images too ghastly for the breakfast table, but the shift is welcome. The inside image of an elderly runner knocked down by the blast and framed by Boston cops running toward…
Edible Outdoors Forest Forage
F or most of us, a walk in the woods is usually nothing more than just that. If we’re fortunate, we arrive home with some pleasant memories and a bit of mud on our boots. If we’re not, we also bring home a case of poison ivy. But, if you join Carriage House Farm’s Native…
Cincinnati vs. The World 04.17.2013
Ohio CEOs are making more than 160 times more than the average Ohioan, according to a new report from the AFL-CIO. In 2012, the average CEO salary was about $6.2 million; the rest of us teeter around $39,000. CINCINNATI -1 A 12-year-old girl from Surrey, British Columbia, scaled back a giant housing development project that…
Bad Budget Ideas Confound Public Discourse
In the past few weeks, Cincinnati’s political scene has been engulfed by debate over the budget, often prompting testy exchanges between city officials. But if the exercise has proven anything, it’s that the city administration is so far the only one with anything close to a workable plan to balance the city’s $35 million deficit.…
Thomas to Resign from Council, Wife to Replace Him
Democratic Councilman Cecil Thomas will resign his council seat after the April 17 council meeting. Thomas recommended that his wife of 32 years, Pam Thomas, take his seat. “Her qualifications are impeccable,” Thomas told reporters April 16. “She will give this city a good representation.” Thomas’ wife ran for Hamilton County clerk of courts…
GOP Medicaid Threat Unites Common Enemies
Ohio House Republicans are poised to reject the Medicaid expansion and the $500 million per year in federal funding that would come with it for the next two years — a move that has united Republican Gov. John Kasich, Ohio Democrats, mental health advocates and other health groups in opposition. The Medicaid expansion is part…
Republicans Push Anti-Abortion, Abstinence Agenda
With Republican support and Democratic opposition, the Ohio House Finance Committee on April 16 approved a budget bill that would ban comprehensive sex education, defund Planned Parenthood and fund crisis pregnancy centers that pro-choice groups call “anti-choice.” The bill would make it so teachers can be sued for up to $5,000 if they explain birth…
Morning News and Stuff
In a memo to the mayor and City Council members last night, City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. revealed the streetcar is facing a $22.7 million shortfall because construction bids were way over budget. The memo says $5.3 million of that budget gap could be brought down through cuts, but fixing the rest requires $17.4 million…
Art: DAAPworks Exhibition Opening
Every spring, the University of Cincinnati opens its doors to hundreds of visitors who might never have a reason to go on campus were it not for a family member or friend graduating from the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. The school’s annual DAAPworks exhibition features the creative output/undergraduate work by Fine Art…
Attraction: Miller House Museum
Madeira’s historic Miller House Museum is opening for tours twice a month. Built in 1922, this Sears Roebuck kit house, operated by the Madeira Historical Society, presents an accurate slice of life as it was from the 1920s through 1950. Acting as a private residence until 1998, the home — a Sears Crescent model —…
Lit: Brian Kimberling
Brian Kimberling’s deftly rendered debut novel Snapper is set in his native Indiana, also known as the Hoosier state. Or, as our western neighbor is described early in the book, “Indiana is rural, agricultural, and surrounded by bully states with great confidence in their own sophistication.” Take note, Buckeyes: We’re sophisticated bullies. The narrative centers…
Eluding Justice
F or most people, being charged with a minor offense like speeding is often little more than an inconvenience. Sign a check, send off the ticket — then it’s tucked away into that portion of our brain, the “whoops” archive of our little misdoings. For others, though, it could literally change — or ruin —…
Event: Club B
Join the Cincinnati Ballet as they turn the Cincinnati Masonic Center into the hottest nightclub in town: Club B. Replete with the red carpet treatment, guests can dance the night away in the VIP section, meet the ballet’s up-and-coming dancers and enjoy delicious food, cocktails and more. This posh party will be complemented by a…
Event: International Butterfly Show
This year’s International Butterfly Show at Krohn Conservatory brings in an Arab North African twist and creates a beautiful spectacle in the process. If you’ve never experienced the tastes, smells and sights of a Moroccan bazaar, then this event will get you there — at least in mind and spirit. More than 16,000 butterflies from…
Event: Earth Day
Celebrate the 43rd Earth Day at Sawyer Point with this year’s theme: “One Earth … One Chance.” This day of education and stewardship will also provide hours of family-friendly entertainment with hands-on displays from environmental groups, a rock-climbing wall, kayak safety lessons, story telling, a recycled materials fashion show, live bands, a Planet Protector Parade…
Music: Buffalo Killers
With Record Store Day falling on Saturday this year — 4/20, y’all! — it should be no surprise that critically acclaimed Cincy-area rockers Buffalo Killers would get in on the action; pot references are sprinkled throughout the band’s discography and their deft blend of vintage Psych Pop and swampy Blues Rock is certainly THC-friendly. The…
Comedy: Nick Griffin
It’s hardly a coincidence that comedian Nick Griffin is a fixture on all of the late night talk shows. “I watched the Tonight Show and Letterman quite a bit when I was young,” he explains, “and was always fascinated by comics and looked for them to be on.” It wasn’t until he was in college…
Hope for Preemies, No New Stones & New Kid OK
HOT Premature Illumination The New York Times reported that a new study found that premature babies benefit medically from live music. Don’t expect to see flocks of parents taking their infants to Coachella; the study found that the babies responded to lullaby-like sounds “played or sung” in the same room. Researchers — led by Beth…
Onstage: Proof
New Edgecliff Theatre takes a big step with its next production, which opens this week. Wrapping up its 15th season, NET is presenting an ambitious work, David Auburn’s Proof, the 2001 winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for best play. A tale of family and genius and the fear of madness focuses on…
Oblivion
What happens if you let Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy) mix and match elements of I Am Legend and Wall-E with The Matrix with Tom Cruise as the last man left to clean up the mess on Earth after an alien invasion? Cruise, who now seems to go back to the code name Jack, plays basketball…
The Lords of Salem
Rob Zombie dives back into the grizzly world of live-action feature films, following his two-run reboot stand of the Halloween franchise, with this tale about a radio DJ (Sheri Moon Zombie) who receives a record with a message — “a gift from the Lords” — that seems to trigger images documenting the dark past of…
Ginger & Rosa
Novels tend to use historic moments as the framing backdrop for intimate relationships, weaving factual strands with personal threads to remind us of the interconnectedness of experience. Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert), best friends growing up in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis in London, navigate this tricky time, laced with fear…
Online Sourcing Implores Healthy Skepticism
I began this column wondering, “With so many search engines and online sources available, how much is enough?” Before the Internet, phone calls and checking clippings often sufficed. So I asked Jeff Blevins, head of University of Cincinnati’s tech-savvy journalism department, how far today’s reporters must dig in pursuit of accuracy. “This goes to the…
Divine Fists
At long last, Cincinnati Rock foursome Fists of Love will see the release of its debut album, I Sang My Heart Out to a Snake Once . The album has been “virtually street-ready” since FoL bassist/producer John Curley took a hiatus to tour the planet with his “other band,” The Afghan Whigs. Curley has returned…
Worst Week Ever!: April 10-16
WEDNESDAY APRIL 10 It’s hard to imagine anything good coming from making music with a cast member of CSI Los Angeles. As a result, many people have criticized Country musician Brad Paisley for his new song “Accidental Racist,” featuring LL Cool J. The song sucks and features socially insightful lyrics such as “If you don’t…
Genius On Hold
Genius is a word thrown around loosely in today’s society, a tag that’s nearly useless thanks to this ubiquity. But every once in awhile, a story comes along about a person who seems to epitomize what the word meant, once upon a time. Something in the story of Walter L. Shaw, a telecommunications wizard —…
Boston
This was supposed to be a story about Cincinnati. The jokes are already outlined in my head — our collective brashness, our childlike enthusiasm for sports and intention to play them (while drinking several beers) until our orthopedic surgeons forbid us to take another swing at a giant baseball pitched underhand. “Sir,” they’ll say, earnestly,…
Finding Balance in ‘Peace’
The first two Rebelution albums found the SoCal Reggae/Rock group going to opposite extremes in how they were recorded and produced. “Our first album, Courage To Grow, we had this mentality that we didn’t want to do so much on the album that we couldn’t do live,” singer/guitarist Eric Rachmany says in a recent phone…
Band of Brothers
In filmmaking, there’s always pressure, especially around one’s first feature. Ideally, you arc your career so that you can grow as a director with each film, raising your profile as you raise your game so that when you’re ready for your big break, you’ve put in the time and have the resume and scars to…
In Full Bloom
Beach House’s gauzy head-trips are marked by the hypnotic voice of frontlady Victoria Legrand. Within the band’s recorded output — which is now at four increasingly ear-pleasing albums after the release of 2012’s Bloom, its second for SubPop — Legrand comes off as an otherworldly figure, an ethereal being who emits dreamy, mood-altering songs rife with ambiguous…
Please Pay Attention to Nathan Fielder
When I first heard about Canadian comic Nathan Fielder’s premiere Comedy Central series, Nathan For You (10:30 p.m. Thursday), I was ready to group it with the countless other newish shows highlighting humorous white dudes. But Nathan For You transcends the popular making-considerably-racist-jokes-in-front-of-a-green-screen format. The premise: Fielder, who attended business school and “got really good…
Leather Repairman Tim Willig Keeps Stuff Awesome
Tim Willig is awesome and he has the business cards to prove it. The shoe and leather repairman doesn’t have “cobbler” written anywhere on his aforementioned business cards. Rather, the official title listed for the owner/operator of Awesome Time Shoe and Leather Repair simply reads: “Awesome Guy.” And in a disposable society, Willig’s ability to…
Patti Smith’s CAC Show: A Mapplethorpe Tribute
In advance of last year’s FotoFocus festival, probably the largest photography-related event in Cincinnati’s history, I asked James Crump — the festival’s co-chair and then chief curator/curator-at-large at Cincinnati Art Museum — if there wasn’t an unspoken spirit hovering over the proceedings: Robert Mapplethorpe. After all, Cincinnati was the city that in 1990 tried to…
Sing Joy Spring
We sing a spring (Sing joy spring) A rare and most mysterious spring (This most occult thing) Is buried deep in the soul (Its story never has been told) — Jon Hendricks The end of spring quarters past — before the University of Cincinnati this year made the semester conversion — had left me euphoric.…
Pun On A Bun
L et’s set sausages aside for a moment to discuss the topic of Rocky Mountain Oysters, for it surely takes an ample pair to name your new Mount Lookout restaurant “Wurst Bar in the Square.” You’ve got to be a seasoned chef, confident that your menu is compelling, delicious and can stand on its own…
Holla!
T he human hurricane known as Mandy Patinkin sets down this weekend for three concerts with the Cincinnati Pops, his first appearance with the Pops since 1991. The protean star of stage (Evita, Sunday in the Park with George), screen (The Princess Bride, Run Ronnie, Run) and television (Homeland, Criminal Minds) says that these performances…
Cock (Review)
Critic's Pick Know Theatre has opted for quality rather than quantity in its productions this season. It’s following the highly regarded When the Rain Stops Falling with its second show, Cock by Mike Bartlett, maintaining a similar high level of material and performance. Know coyly offers the alternative title of The Cockfight Play for publications…
