‘Louie’ Is Back in the New York Groove
After nearly two years off the air, Louis C.K. is back on the small screen, presenting another season of brilliant dark humor with Louie (Season Premiere, 10 p.m. Monday, FX). The series has garnered accolades from fans and critics alike since its debut in 2010, with several awards and nominations for the show’s acting, writing,…
Untangling the Webs of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’
At first glance, it would seem that we identify with Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) because he is an Everyman, a kid really, who stumbles upon great power and accepts the weighty responsibility that comes with it. But dig a little deeper and, in fact, there’s nothing at all about Peter Parker that’s relatable. He’s downright…
Locals Join the Push for Men’s Roller Derby
As the Cincinnati Junior Rollergirls clatter around Colerain’s The Skatin’ Place track, Mark “Tink” Weber sits relaxed with his arms spread across the back of a bench seat. He’s wearing his Team USA Roller Derby hoodie and an excited grin — still riding the wave of Team USA’s Roller Derby World Cup victory the week…
Art: A Retrospective of Avtar Gill the Cincinnati Hat Man
REJOICE: A Retrospective of Avtar Gill the Cincinnati Hat Man features the many colorful handmade signs drawn and worn by Avtar Gill (aka the “Hat Man” of Cincinnati) at Thunder-Sky, Inc. For about a decade prior to his death in January 2013, Gill had become somewhat of a local fixture at nearly any and every downtown event.…
Literary: Steven Galloway
Steven Galloway’s new novel, The Confabulist, opens with this admission from a seemingly normal guy named Martin Strauss: “I didn’t just kill Harry Houdini. I killed him twice.” What follows is a historical re-imagining of the famed illusionist’s life and his fateful encounters with Strauss, whose damaged memory is but one reason he’s an unreliable…
Art: An Evening with Cameron Silver
L.A. vintage clothing collector, stylist and author Cameron Silver will be at Northside’s Evolution Studio Monday signing copies of his book Decades: A Century of Fashion, now in its second edition. As part of his talk, Silver will give a sneak peek into the exhibition he curated for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles,…
Literary: Friends of the Public Library Star Wars Day Sci-Fi Sale
Star Wars day is celebrated on May 4 because it sounds similar to the famous phrase, “May the force be with you.” Get it? May the fourth be with you? On May 5, in honor of the occasion, the Friends of the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County host a book event with 50-percent…
Event: Tri-State Antique Market
Looking for some decor to spruce up the office, a signature centerpiece for the dining room table or just a fabulous necklace you can’t live without? Indiana’s Tri-State Antique Market opens its doors on the first Sunday of each month to more than 200 vendors selling an array of products. Rain or shine, vendors make…
Event: Savor the Season: Farm to Fork Celebration
The Gorman Heritage Farm’s Savor the Season: Farm to Fork Celebration brings together some of Cincinnati’s top chefs to demonstrate springtime dishes using fresh produce from local farms. The day features chef demos and food tastings, farm tours, a variety of workshops (Composting 101, Beekeeping 101, Vegetable Garden Design, etc.), local brews and a Raid…
Music: Garciaphone
From the central region of France called Auvergne, Indie Rock trio Garciaphone was formed in 2007 by well-traveled drummer Olivier Perez as an outlet for his songwriting. One listen to the band’s just-released debut full-length, Constancia, proves Perez to be another drummer-turned-frontman who has made at least one old drummer joke obsolete. (What’s the last…
Event: Derby Day Soiree at Neons
Start crafting your over-the-top Derby hat and get ready to celebrate the pony races at The Famous Neons Unplugged for their first annual Derby Day Soirée. Enjoy pre-race cocktails, including Molly Wellmann’s own mint juleps, in an official, 140th annual Kentucky Derby commemorative glass. Taste 513 will be preparing authentic country food while Americana/Folk band…
Event: Fiesta on Fountain Square
Cincy-Cinco celebrates the coming Cinco de Mayo (May 5) with a weekend of authentic Latin American music, food, dancing, art and children’s activities on Fountain Square. Participating restaurants include favorites La Mexicana, Taqueria Mercado, Caribe Carryout and more, with music and dance continuously throughout Saturday and Sunday. Noon-11 p.m. Saturday; noon-7 p.m. Sunday. Free. Fountain…
Dance: Rennie Harris RHAW
Rennie Harris, founder of internationally known Philadelphia-based Hip Hop dance troupe Puremovement, formed another company called Rennie Harris RHAW in 2007, functioning as a training/feeder company for the original group. Friday and Saturday at the Aronoff Center, the young dancers of RHAW will dazzle with their mastery of classic Hip Hop moves like popping, locking,…
Event: Flying Pig Weekend
Although it was once just a dream and a course route scrawled on a bar napkin by a group of local runners, the Flying Pig Marathon has evolved into a renowned running festival with a memorable theme, an emphasis on community and a weekend’s worth of races for athletes of all ages and abilities. The…
Comedy: Brad Williams
The first time Brad Williams was on stage telling jokes, it was not as part of an open mic night. He had gone with friends to see comedian Carlos Mencia, who started making jokes about little people. Williams is a dwarf, and no one around him was laughing. “What? Is one of them here?” Mencia…
Attractions: Zoo Babies
Each May, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden celebrates its newest arrivals. Throughout the park, visitors will be invited to attend “Baby Talks” to learn about the zoo’s adorable additions, including their newest arrivals, Jack the Bactrian camel; a baby bat-eared fox; and a giraffe born April 28. From adorable hatchlings and irresistible infants, Zoo…
Onstage: Phantom of the Opera
Hang onto the chandelier! The Phantom of the Opera is headed back to Cincinnati. One of the most popular musicals of all time moves into the Aronoff Center for a two-week run (April 30-May 11) courtesy of Broadway in Cincinnati. Getting its start in London in 1986, the show conquered Broadway two years later —…
Thunder-Sky ‘Rejoices’ over Late Cincinnati Icon
As seemed fitting for an exhibition featuring the many colorful handmade signs drawn and worn by Avtar Gill (aka the “Hat Man” of Cincinnati) at Thunder-Sky, Inc., those who came out to see a sliver of his visual legacy at the REJOICE: A Retrospective of Avtar Gill the Cincinnati Hat Man opening this past Friday…
Queen City Reading
I t’s not so unusual when local authors write books about this region — there’s a burgeoning market for it, actually, in Cincinnati and elsewhere. A perfect example is Phil Nuxhall’s new Stories in the Grove (Orange Frazer Press), a follow-up to his Beauty in the Grove: Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum. In his new…
Think Thursdays
Try four wines with a buffet dinner for $20. Or how about a three-course plated dinner with beverage pairings for that same amount? If craft beer is more your style, you can taste four of them along with “chef-crafted” food pairings for only $12. Twice a month, the University of Cincinnati, under the umbrella designation…
Venus in Fur (Review)
Critic's Pick Perhaps you’ve heard that David Ives' 2010 play, Venus in Fur, is a hot item at regional theaters this season. It’s receiving more than two-dozen unique productions in cities across America, including the one presently onstage at the Cincinnati Playhouse. It’s the story of Thomas, a director/playwright who has devised a script from…
Great Food for a Great Cause
The National Exemplar, a restaurant located in the historic Mariemont Inn, is hosting their second annual Great Food for a Great Cause fundraiser and dinner to benefit research for head and neck cancers via the The Brandon C. Gromada Head & Neck Cancer Foundation. The Brandon C. Gromada Head & Neck Cancer Foundation was founded after…
Tom+Chee Newport on the Levee Grand Reopening
Purveyors of delicious grilled cheese and grilled cheese donuts Tom+Chee are hosting a grand reopening celebration at their Newport on the Levee location. The all-day Saturday affair (10 a.m.-10 p.m.) will feature family-friendly entertainment; a raffle benefiting Awesome Fathers Taking Roles, a nonprofit dedicated to educating fathers and role models in homes of children with…
Celebrations Honoring Lily Mulberry’s Legacy
A diverse group of friends, family and various artist-types who knew and loved 1305 Gallery owner Lily Mulberry will gather together at several different events this coming weekend to celebrate the life of the longtime OTR resident/gallery owner. Mulberry was diagnosed more than two years ago with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer that affects the immune…
Stage Door: Options Abound
There's ample evidence at the Cincinnati Playhouse as to why David Ives' Tony-nominated play Venus in Fur is the most produced script in America this season. I saw the opening performance last evening, and it's an entertaining attention-grabber. Inspired by an erotic Victorian novel, it's the story of a playwright who's adapted it for the stage…
New Riff Distillery Hosts Bourbon and Game Tasting
New Riff Distilling, the new distillery near the Party Source (24 Distillery Way, Bellevue, newriffdistilling.com), is hosting a tasting dinner with chef David Cook of Daveed's NEXT. The Spirits for Wild Game tasting event features craft beer from Ei8ght Ball Brewing, bourbon and wine selections paired with wild game hors d'oeuvres. Chef David Cook will…
Tap That Brew Tour
CityBeat hosts an afternoon of drinking and not driving. Start at one of the participating breweries — Rhinegeist, Listermann Brewing Company, Ei8ht Ball Brewing, Christian Moerlein or MadTree — and then hop on a shuttle to the next one. After you’ve visited each, hop back on the shuttle to be driven to your starting location. Tickets include beer…
Maury’s Tiny Cove Celebrates 65 Years
Maury's Tiny Cove, everyone's favorite (and the oldest) steakhouse on the West Side, celebrates 65 years Sunday with an open house party and auction. Founded in 1949 by Maurice Bibent, the steakhouse maintains it's mid-century vibe: low lights, deep red booths, dark wood and great martinis. The menu focuses on hand-cut steaks, baby back ribs…
Dining Out for Life 2014
Dining Out For Life is an annual event to raise funds for licensed AIDS service agencies in 60 cities across the nation. Started in 1991 by ActionAIDS in Philadelphia, today more than 3,000 restaurants donate a portion of their proceeds from one day to the aforementioned service agencies; more than $4 million is raised each year…
Beer for Beginners
Typically divided into subsects of ales (made with top-fermenting yeast) and lagers (made with bottom-fermenting yeast), the types of beer that exist follow some loose guidelines. Below you’ll learn about some of the more prominent variations, what distinguishes them and some of the local breweries that craft them so you can decode what to order…
Drink and Dine
T here are plenty of bars around town where you can just sit and drink ’til the cows come home. But man cannot live by beer alone. Well, at least not for very long. So we’ve put together a few of our favorite places to tip back a few without starving to death. GRUB WITH…
Talk a Walk on the West Side
T he West Side of Cincinnati: To some, it’s a foreign country, uncharted territory — a mystery. Outsiders may mock it and oftentimes underestimate it, assuming it’s home to nothing more than chain restaurants and a church on every corner. But delve deeper and you’ll discover that inside its high school loyalty and tight-knit community,…
Bar Guide
NEW BARS Dick’s Last Resort: A bar and restaurant where you pay people to be dicks to you. Newport on the Levee, Newport, Ky., 859-581-2500, dickslastresort.com. The Eagle OTR: A fried chicken restaurant with alcohol. Booze-wise, they serve 100 kinds of beer and have about 15 different brews on tap, including local offerings from neighboring…
Musicians’ Desk Reference Switches Format, Offers Free Trial
After launching last year locally at the MidPoint Music Festival and nationally at New York’s CMJ conference, the intuitive and comprehensive music industry e-book Musicians’ Desk Reference has relaunched with a new format. Created in Cincinnati by longtime local musician and promoter Brian Penick (also the founder of The Counter Rhythm Group, which has helped…
Metts and Cake
Nestled among the beautiful homes of the Mansion Hill area of Newport, Ky., is the new German-style deli Katharina’s Café-Konditorei. Outside, a folding chalkboard listing the daily specials and several wrought-iron café tables with red umbrellas surround the corner restaurant. Inside, the small interior is warm: Giant windows light up the bright white walls and…
Event: Tap That Brew Tour
CityBeat hosts an afternoon of drinking and not driving. Start at one of the participating breweries — Rhinegeist, Listermann Brewing Company, Ei8ht Ball Brewing, Christian Moerlein or MadTree — and then hop on a shuttle to the next one. After you’ve visited each, hop back on the shuttle to be driven to your starting location. Tickets include…
Event: Village Vintage & Arts Bazaar
With purveyors of art, antique, vintage and repurposed items such as furniture, home goods, décor, tools, jewelry, clothing, gadgets and collectibles, this colorful marketplace rivals Cincinnati’s City Flea. The outdoor bazaar is free to shoppers, and all are welcome to browse and buy from vendors and fellow shoppers. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. fourth Sundays through October.…
Pushing Pause
T he city’s cost of a long-planned piece of cycling infrastructure could more than double if City Council approves a motion Vice Mayor David Mann planned to introduce on April 23. Mayor John Cranley successfully paused the Central Parkway Bikeway Project for public discourse in response to a handful of business owners and residents taking…
Event: Art on Vine
The boutique art fair, Art on Vine, organized by James Jenkins, owner of Photography for the People, returns to Rhinegeist Brewery. The event will showcase fine arts, crafts and the photography works of 20 artists (available for purchase). Visitors can shop, enjoy great artwork and sip on freshly brewed beer with a Holtman’s Donut Shop…
Event: Sharonville Classic Car Show
Spring hasn’t officially started until you’ve checked out old cars, drank beer and eaten a hot dog all on the same street corner. The 37th annual Sharonville Classic Car Show features more than 400 historic vehicles like Thunderbirds and Corvettes. New to the show this year are two-wheeled modes of transportation: vintage bicycles. Spend the…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
I’m a huge fan of locally-produced commercials-gone-viral. Cincinnati’s Fick Chiropractic Centers current ad might not be up there with Jamie Casino, but it does feature a killer beat that deserves some attention. Is anyone else just tickled by the concept of a local doctor employing a beatmaker for a commercial? It totally caught me off…
Music: WoodyFest 2014: A Tribute to the Music of Woody Guthrie
Veteran Cincinnati Folk singer/songwriter Jake Speed, once one of the more consistently gigging musicians in town, hasn’t been performing a lot as of late, focusing instead on parental duties. But this weekend Speed is hitting the stage for WoodyFest, his annual tribute to American music icon (and one of Speed’s biggest influences) Woody Guthrie. Now…
Art: Women’s Work, Art of Women
When one organizes an exhibition of art centered on the theme of gender roles, astute art-goers might be reluctant to buy into such a broad-based subject. To say that there is an overarching theme common to all female artists is shortsighted to say the least. (How odd would it be if galleries put together a…
Event: Crafty Supermarket
Everyone’s favorite local indie craft show, Crafty Supermarket, returns to the Clifton Cultural Arts Center on Saturday. Since 2009, the market has been bringing a curated (and juried) selection of some of the best crafters, artists and makers from all over North America to Cincinnati for a day of shopping, where guests can meet the…
Event: ReUse-apalooza!
Be a part of the sustainable community as Building Value celebrates 10 years of building with repurpose at the fifth annual ReUse-apalooza! Everything at the “zero-waste” ReUse-apalooza! will be reusable, recyclable or compostable, including the items in a silent auction featuring products from a designer challenge in which earth-friendly artists created works made entirely from…
Comedy: Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari, comedian and star of Parks and Recreation and Rolling Stone’s funniest man under 30, brings his Modern Romance stand-up tour to the Horseshoe Casino. The show is all about modern relationships and technology, so expect humor and insight — all while Ansari is clothed in a velvet blazer. 7 and 10 p.m. Friday.…
Film: Shatner’s World
With an energetic mix of personal anecdotes and laugh-out-loud humor, William Shatner’s critically acclaimed one-man show hits select screens Thursday. Shatner’s World will be shown at the following cinemas: Cinemark Florence, AMC Newport Levee, Cinemark Oakley Station, Cinemark Western Hills, National Amusements Springdale Showcase Cinemas, Regal Deerfield Town Center and Cinemark Milford. 7:30 p.m. Thursday.…
Comedy: Ben Roy
Ben Roy has been called a punk rock Sam Kinison, but this is inaccurate. Where volume was part of Kinison’s punchlines, for Roy it’s strictly more of a vehicle to deliver that laugh. “My high school drama coach used to say, ‘Play it to the deaf old lady in the back of the room,’” Roy…
Record-Breaking Record-Making Pace
HOT A Record-Breaking Record There’s a P.T. Barnum side to Jack White’s persona that even the silly backlashers who claim to hate his music (once it got “too popular,” of course) have to admire. (Just kidding — most of those idiots’ default setting is “hate everything.”) On Record Store Day (April 19), White pulled another…
Event: Dining Out For Life
Dining Out For Life is an annual dining event to raise funds for licensed AIDS service agencies in 60 cities across the nation. Started in 1991 by ActionAIDS in Philadelphia, today more than 3,000 restaurants donate a portion of their proceeds from one day; more than $4 million is raised each year, which goes directly to…
A Tale of Two Aarons
On April 22, on-the-rise, prolific Northern Kentucky Hip Hop artist Trademark Aaron released his latest project, the cleverly titled mixtape Words with Friends, for free online (you can download a copy — and his other releases — at trademarkaaron.bandcamp.com). The guest-laden collection will get the release party treatment this Friday at Covington, Ky.’s Madison Theater…
Onstage: Venus in Fur
“90 minutes of good, kinky fun” is how The New York Times described this Broadway hit from 2011. The Cincinnati Playhouse is one of numerous American theaters staging David Ives’ arousing show this season. When an ambitious and attractive actress arrives late for her audition for a play based on an erotic novel from Victorian…
Event: Revel & Feast
Here ye, here ye! Wednesday marks the 450th birthday of William Shakespeare as well as the 20th anniversary of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (CSC). Celebrate with an evening of reveling and feasting. In honor of CSC’s completion of Shakespeare’s 38-play canon, 38 students from 38 schools will kick off the night with a special performance…
Union of the State
The one-sheet that accompanies State Song’s sophomore album, Sleepcrawling, notes that it’s the Cincinnati band’s second album in four years. Although technically correct, frontman and primary songwriter Scot Torres laughs at that characterization of the trio’s recording timeline. “In year one we put out a record and in year four we put out a record,”…
Noah Gundersen with Armon Jay
Given his raspy delivery, spare acoustic guitar accompaniment, erudite wordplay and numerous Tom Waits videos posted on his Tumblr page, it’s easy to draw a line between Seattle singer/songwriter Noah Gundersen and the world’s most famous boho troubadour. Too easy, perhaps. To be sure, Gundersen has borrowed a few metaphorical tricks from Waits’ growling grapefruit-moon/dark-cloud…
Papadosio with Peridoni and Random Rab
There is a fair amount of evidence that Jam/Psych bands are primarily interested in mindless noodling on a musical bridge to nowhere, Electronic bands are satisfied to “unce-unce-unce” on varying themes with no discernible point and Prog bands have a tendency to disappear up their own asses with Classical suites and Middle Earth imagery. Papadosio…
Lab Partners with Darlene and The Stealth Pastille
One of the finest bands to emerge from the Dayton, Ohio, music scene over the last 15 years, Lab Partners continue to carry on Gem City’s reputation as a hot-bed for Indie Rock. The band also has direct ties to some of the artists who helped bring international attention to the city’s music in the…
Protomartyr with Whatever Brains
Joe Casey is agitated. The frontman and chief word slinger for Detroit’s Protomartyr opens the quartet’s second full-length record, the stellar Under Color of Official Right, with this recurring statement: “There’s just a clack in the brain now.” “Scum, Rise!,” an urgent manifesto that rivals early Clinic for its atmospheric menace, includes this sentiment: “Pound…
The Railway Man
This drama interweaves real biography into the mix as a former officer (Colin Firth) in the British Army who suffered through extreme torture as a prisoner of war at a Japanese labor camp during WWII discovers that one of his tormentors is still alive years later. The older Brit, despite having settled down with a…
The Quiet Ones
John Pogue (the director of Quarantine 2: Terminal) tracks the mystery surrounding a university professor (Jared Harris) and his ragtag team of students seeking to heal a test subject beset by supernatural forces that none of them are quite willing to believe in until it is too late. Sooner or later, we will have explored…
The Other Woman
Have you ever wondered what would happen if the wife (Leslie Mann) and the other woman (Cameron Diaz) of a married man (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) discover that they aren’t alone in his revolving funhouse? Or how about questioning what happened to Nick Cassavetes, who followed up the promise of John Q, The Notebook, and Alpha Dog…
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Back in 1974, it was a mad dream of surrealist filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, The Holy Mountain) to tackle Frank Herbert’s science fiction classic Dune, especially when you consider that at the time, Jodorowsky hadn’t even read the novel. But what becomes quite clear during the early stages of this fascinating and trippy documentary…
Brick Mansions
One of the final films of the late Paul Walker arrives, courtesy of the Luc Besson action factory (Besson co-wrote the script with Bibi Naceri and turned things over to Last Call director Camille Delamarre). It finds Walker as a Detroit cop who teams up with an ex-con (David Belle) to take down a crime…
Anita
Certain historic moments inveigle their way into our personal memories, demanding that we remember where we were as these situations were unfolding. The Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas scandal from 1991 is one such event for me. As a still-unemployed recent college graduate with a penchant for politics, the high drama of the Senate hearings investigating…
Media Musings From Cincinnati and Beyond
Reporters jumped on official revelations that the latest Ft. Hood shooter had been treated for emotional problems. Some advocates for the mentally ill objected, saying it embellished an inaccurate stereotype. But mental illness was the first and best explanation for Spc. Ivan Lopez killing and wounding fellow soldiers. My question: Do we need to explain…
‘Daily Show’ Alumni Land Big Solo Projects
The Daily Show has propelled more comics to fame than just host Jon Stewart. Steve Carell, Ed Helms, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver (OK, a lot of white guys) and many others sparked their careers with regular appearances on Comedy Central’s “fake news” show. But it’s the latter two, Colbert and Oliver, making big waves in…
You Will Know My Name Is ‘Dom Hemingway’
When we first encounter Dom Hemingway (Jude Law), he is addressing us while being “serviced,” if you will. It takes a moment for us to realize the nature of the “servicing” and the location, but it becomes quite clear that Dom is full of himself and enjoying the moment, because he is in the midst…
Puppet Theater Brings Change to Westwood
If you’ve gone to an elementary school in Cincinnati anytime between the ’80s and now, chances are you remember a Madcap Puppets performance. Giant puppets, music and acting have brought Madcap performances to life since 1981, teaching children the fundamentals of puppetry and theater. When John Lewandowski, artistic and executive director of Madcap in Westwood,…
The Slow Pleasures of Looking at Art
Art Museums, like any other civic institution, participate in lots of special “days” and other catchy events to get visitors. But Slow Art Day, which occurred April 12, was such a good idea — at least at Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM), where I participated — that it should be instituted on a regular basis. An…
Nearly Half a Century
(Heavy sigh) This is the obligatory column about aging. The best parts of growing older are experience, grace, laughter, wisdom and memories and growing older itself because the alternative is death and I wouldn’t trade the raggedy edges of my sometimes uncertain life for all the death I once lusted for. Because if I leave…
At The Edge Of The Stage
Over the Rhine, the bluesy, jazzy, folksy band headed by blonde chanteuse Karin Bergquist and real-life partner Linford Detweiler, named after Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood where they once lived, this weekend will perform live with Cincinnati Ballet dancers in the closing series of the company’s 50th anniversary season. Bergquist’s powerful, emotionally eloquent voice anchors soulful,…
