Electing to Cover Politics
This week's cover story on Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell unofficially kicks off CityBeat's 2006 election coverage. Over the next 10 weeks or so, expect to see lots of news stories about the candidates and ballot issues you'll be facing in the voting booth on Nov. 7. Of course, you've already read plenty of…
Cincinnati’s Connection to Football’s ‘West Coast Offense’
Jerry Dowling The following isn't a wholly original idea, and it might even risk incoherence. Such is the gamble so many take, and lose, when they begin discussing the so-called "West Coast Offense." The upshot: Of the offensive strains going around football today, three either are or should be called the "West Coast Offense,"…
The Cooking Shows
I'd never really understood the appeal of cooking shows — until recently. Now, I find myself fascinated by them, and watch whenever I can, drawn by a mixture of education, entertainment and simple, vicarious pleasure. Cooking shows are also a portal into my past, a connection that triumphs over geography and distance, and a link…
Cover Story: Finding Ken Blackwell
Finding Ken Blackwell He is both maverick and doctrinaire, one who as a college student in the late 1960s came across as something of a black radical, then matured politically into a collegial Charterite and within a few years morphed into a conservative Republican who today invokes the rhetoric — it's evident in his just-published…
Living Out Loud: : New Rules
I've never met Bill Maher, the host of Real Time on HBO, but I think we have one thing in common: We're both a bit cranky. On his show (returning August 25), there's a segment entitled "New Rules," in which Maher squares off about things he doesn't like and imposes rules to correct them. Mr.…
Diner: Simple Elegance
Greenup Café Go: 308 Greenup St., Covington Call: 859-261-3663 Hours: Pastries/coffee: 6:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday; Sunday; breakfast: 7:30 a.m.-10 a.m. Monday-Saturday; lunch: 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday; brunch: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday Prices: Inexpensive to moderate Payment: Major credit cards Red Meat Alternatives: Chicken, seafood and vegetarian dishes. Accessibility: The café was unable to add a…
Upcoming Concert reviews of the Church, Will hoge and More…
The Church The Church with Rob Dickinson Wednesday · 20th Century Theater In the pantheon of Australian Rock, The Church is one of the brightest and perhaps quirkiest lights. Founders Steve Kilbey and Peter Koppes had been playing together since the early '70s before assembling The Church in 1980, first as a trio with…
News to Use
Discuss Israeli-Hezbollah War "A Conversation about the Crisis in Lebanon" is the program at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 16 at Rohs Street Café, 245 W McMillan St. in University Heights. Sponsored by the Conversations for Peace Committee, the program is not a talk by experts, not a political analysis, but several individuals — Muslims, Christians and…
The Wolfe in Me
Due to the circumstances of my birth, I'd been imprisoned in the mountains. I spent my childhood there serving a sentence without a prescribed term limit. I was afforded a few weeks away during the summer for good behavior. What crime had I committed, I wondered. Where was the sense of grace or pity that…
News: More Than Six Acres
Jared M. Holder Kristin Kitchen saw opportunity where others saw blight, restoring an old house into a bed and breakfast. Now she sees untapped talent in Africa Kristin Kitchen runs a picturesque bed and breakfast in College Hill called "Six Acres." A month after she purchased the property and about two years before its…
Music: Local Disc-O-Mania
BOB NYSWONGER · BOB NYSWONGER — DEPOSITION Snatching obscurity from the jaws of fame for over 25 years, Cincinnati's psychodots are easily the most underrated Pop group in America. Like hydroponic song farmers, the 'dots are so wildly prolific that their prodigious output can barely be contained by group efforts, side projects and solo…
We’re Outta Here
My husband and I couldn't agree with more with Larry Gross' column, "Trashin' the 'Nati" (issue of Aug. 9). We've recently attended several events and, feeling energized, wanted to cap the evening with a bite to eat or a drink. Nothin' open. This includes a Thursday evening performance of Playhouse's Company, opening night of the…
News: Charities: Keep Out
Jared M. Holder Bob McGonagle says his church should be allowed to feed homeless people in Washington Park Charities are no longer welcome to operate in Cincinnati parks. In April the Cincinnati Park Board quietly changed its policy, indefinitely suspending social service permits for all parks in the city. "The park board refined its…
Locals Only: : Clarifying The Connection
Voyageur When I first ask drummer Joe Adkins about the significance of the name Voyageur, he replies, "We really like band names like Journey and Foreigner, so that's part of the reason we went with it. We just happen to prefer the Queen's English version." The history and dynamic of Voyageur, however, is not…
Invisible Disabilities Are No Less Real
The U.S. Census Bureau says there are 54 million Americans with disabilities. It's a number I refer to fairly frequently and a number that sometimes raises eyebrows, not to mention questions. How can there be so many? Who are these people, anyway? Disability is defined by law as the limitation or lack of an essential…
Onstage: Summer Getaway
Amy and David Sedaris ("The Talent Family" when they write together) have been called two of the funniest people in America by Entertainment Weekly. I can't disagree with that — I love his sardonic wit and radio monologues, and I'm always amused by the bizarre characters she plays in films. But I had a hard…
Big Bad ‘Voodoo Daddies
The members of local Pop/Rock four-piece Shamvoodoo came together in the Cincinnati area from various parts of the U.S. (from California to Kentucky) and possess an equally wide range of backgrounds (from acoustic solo performers to studio sessioneers and engineers). But their ranging pedigrees come together most harmoniously on the band's recently-released debut long-player, Grifters.…
A Whole Lot More Chuck Norris
Notes: We all know, love, and frequently forget about Chuck Norris. Why? Because he's too menacing to keep in the mind for longer than a brief interval. After hearing about the foiled terrorist plot to blow up more planes, I started worrying. What if security doesn't catch the next batch of bombers What if there's…
2006 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards
Matt Borgerding Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati's D. Lynn Meyers will be inducted into the CEA Hall of Fame on Aug. 25. Have you ordered your tickets yet for the 2006 CINCINNATI ENTERTAINMENT AWARDS? The event is Aug. 25 at 8 p.m. at UC's College-Conservatory of Music. The Corbett Auditorium will be the place to…
Culinary and Political Health in Kentucky
Jared M. Holder Ben Brandzel, advocacy director for Moveon.org, calls for justice at Wal-Mart. If you're going to a restaurant in Northern Kentucky, you can now easily check the score it received on its most recent health inspection. The Northern Kentucky Health Department has put the results of its inspections online. The list includes…
News: Momentum Against the War
Matt Borgerding (L-R) Sister Alice Gerdeman, Julie Przybysz and Kristen Barker are organizing anti-war demonstrations. More than three years after the United States invaded Iraq and some 40 months after President Bush, on an aircraft carrier, declared victory in combat operations under a banner saying, "Mission Accomplished," the American public's mood is shifting about…
Music: Jammed on Main?
Oliver Meinerding Despite dwindling attendance and club closings in Over-the-Rhine, local music supporters and performers still strive to keep Main Street a music hub. Last year, around the time of the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards in November, there was a mantra flooding the local music scene: "Music has become our finest export and our best…
Film: Family Bonding
Fox Searchlight Get on the bus: (L-R) Agigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Paul Dano, Steve Carell and Greg Kinnear Little Miss Sunshine, a charming yet edgy road comedy about an argumentative family traveling from Albuquerque to a child beauty pageant in Southern California, is overflowing with fine performances. Greg Kinnear, as the titular head of…
Art: Hitting the Low Notes
Jared M. Holder Stephen Geddes' "Cylinder Head" Art and politics is by now a straightforward dyad. Many artists, and most all those deemed "important" by critics, use their work to dialogue with their culture — fair or unfair, beautiful or ugly. As such, to gather politically-charged work into one room under a model so…
