Film: Cinema of Allusions
David Lee Bill Murray (left) and Jim Jarmusch confer on the set of Broken Flowers LOS ANGELES — Broken Flowers, the contemplatively quiet, quintessentially indie film by writer/director Jim Jarmusch, has the kind of cast you might expect to see in a splashy, big-budget Hollywood comedy. Bill Murray plays an aging, taciturn bachelor, Don Johnston.…
American Family (The Al Green Remix)
The older I get, the more I find myself longing for the bygone days of my youth. That sounds more than a little musty coming from a not quite oldhead (don't let the premature grey distinguishing my dreads fool you). Beware what you see. I remember when families were simply broken. Such a clean and…
Electoral Reform
It looks as though voters will be able to do more Nov. 8 than choose Cincinnati's new mayor and revamp city council; they might also be able to retool Ohio's electoral system. A group called Reform Ohio Now has collected half a million signatures, more than enough to put three separate election reform initiatives on…
Same Old Bengals: Squeezing Nickels, Hurting Their Chances
Jerry Dowling The preseason games began for the Bengals long before their 23-13 loss to the New England Patriots Aug. 12. They're the kinds of games that preceded most of their past 14 seasons without a winning record. Indeed, they've preceded many of the winning seasons receded into distant memory. It's how the Bengals do…
Killing Them Softly with Budget Cuts
Drug and alcohol treatment programs aren't in the business for the money. But they might go out of business for lack of it, if surprise cuts to their clients' state aid eligibility stay in place. On July 1, the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services suddenly cut clients of residential drug and alcohol treatment…
More Mayoral Questions
The tone of Stephanie Dunlap's story "Bite Out of Crime" (issue of Aug. 10-16) shows she was onto the Cincinnati mayoral candidates insofar as their being shallow thinkers about the issue of crime. I just want to say, if you have the opportunity to question the mayoral candidates again, try to pin them down along…
Chalk Outline for Chalk
On Saturday the Cincinnati music community suffers another punch-in-the-gut loss when inventive ElectroPunk masters Chalk play their final show. The band's last gig — at Downtown club, Crush — also serves as a release party for the trio's swan song full-length, The Hyperventilating Culture (being issued on local imprint, Tokyo Rose Records). The $7 cover…
Living Out Loud: : The Citizen — Blowing Smoke
Kelly was an old acquaintance. I first met her some years ago when she was dating her husband. Before Sitwell's Coffeehouse opened, the same basement space was called the Cove. The Cove was a low-lit room with head-high, small paned windows lining the street-side wall. The decoration theme was nautical, and the place was under…
Ashley Brown
Joan Marcus Ex-CCMer Ashley Brown will soon star on Broadway in Disney's Beauty & the Beast. Call us smart. Or call her talented. Perhaps both. Back in 2002, musical theater major ASHLEY BROWN was nominated for a Cincinnati Entertainment Award for her performance as the virginal Cunegonde in a spectacular 2001 production of Leonard Bernstein's…
Locals Only: : Patient’s Virtue
James McKenna Patient Zero The ever-elusive genre tag is something all bands face. Someone always wants to know whom a group sounds like rather than what. The members of local band patientZero aren't strangers to this phenomenon. Fans will have a take-home version to weigh after the release of the band's first full-length album, Seemingly…
Accident Broke His Neck, Not His Spirit
Sometimes disability occurs in a single instant, and sometimes that's a tragedy. The smart money, though, is on just figuring out how to navigate the detour and get back on track with some new techniques. Brian Burger was 17 when he broke his neck in what he calls a completely fluke accident. An ace skier,…
News to Use
Mayoral Forum on Social Justice A mayoral candidates forum using deliberative dialogue to mine the theme of social justice in Cincinnati takes place 7-8:30 p.m. Aug. 17 in the Taubman Auditorium of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which co-sponsors the forum with the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), Delta Sigma Theta Sorority…
Film: Trivia Pursuit
David Sorcher CityBeat film critic Rodger Pille disputes Holly Phitts' quickness with the buzzer during the Independent Film Channel's "Film Fanatic Challenge." In the end, everyone had advice for this story. That's what happens when people who write stories for a living become the subject of a story. Steve Ramos, head film critic for CityBeat,…
Upcoming Concert Reviews of Rodney Crowell, Alice Cooper and More…
Rodney Crowell Rodney Crowell & The Outsiders with Will Kimbrough Saturday · Southgate House Native Texan Rodney Crowell started his career in the early '70s by displaying his shit-hot songwriting skills to a Nashville peer group that included Guy Clark, Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt. Emmylou Harris heard a couple of Crowell's songs and…
Always Faithful
I've been trying to write this editorial for months now, but I can't seem to find a good way into the subject. I still can't. How do you vent about your disgust over President Bush's war in Iraq and your distrust of U.S. military leadership when dead Marines are coming home to area towns to…
News: Saving Public Media
Roni Moermond A distrust of journalism — rather than concern about the federal deficit — appears to be the real motivation behind budget cuts for public broadcasting proposed by Congressional Republicans, according to Susan Howarth, CEO of CET. Thanks to an outcry by listeners and viewers, Congress has dropped plans to slash federal funding for…
Diner: Ale Analysis
Woodrow J. Hinton Last Friday evening, with my chest puffed out bravely, I took one for the CityBeat team and attended an organized beer tasting at Jungle Jim's International Market in Fairfield. In a typical display of selfless journalism, with no thought for my personal well-being, I nominated myself for this assignment. I'm a trooper.…
Mythos
I don't do fast food — unless, it's Greek. Replace the words Big Boy with gyro and tartar sauce with tzatziki, and I'm willing to stand in line. Which is a good thing, because at MYTHOS (Aronoff Center, Seventh St. between Walnut and Main, Downtown, 513-621-9222) the line snakes the length of the small eatery…
News: Show Us the Money
Sean Hughes/photopresse.com Vice Mayor Alicia Reece says she has sometimes had to vote with little information from city adminstrators. Tempers can flare when the subject of economic development is discussed in Cincinnati. Whether it's a specific program, such as the city's $52 million subsidy to keep Convergys in town, or city council's overall voting record,…
Music: Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy
Jonathan Mannion Cincinnati-bred duo Czar*Nok anticipate that their major-label debut, That One Way, helps put the Cincy Rap scene on the map. When baby Snoop Dogg was learning to form sentences, Max Julien, the quintessential mack (The Mack, Cleopatra Jones), was the first to utter, "Yo' bitch chose me," and laid his pimp hand down…
Film: Tuneful Television
David Bowie (left) and Dick Cavett share a moment during a vintage episode of The Dick Cavett Show. A wonderful television moment — an immortal one, maybe — occurs midway through the June 25, 1970, Dick Cavett Show when Janis Joplin asks fellow guest Douglas Fairbanks Jr. if he knew F. Scott Fitzgerald. Just moments…
A Quarter Year
You so rarely answer questions of etiquette in your column, unlike so many of your advice-giving peers. Here's one for you: I've been in a casual sexual relationship with this girl for about four months. (Two months ago we spoke, reaffirming that all either of us wanted was the casual sex.) I have grown weary…
A Gentle Faith
The suburban home in Amelia looked similar to any other Ohio home hosting a gathering. Cars lined the driveway and the chatter of children drifted from the backyard. But this wasn't a birthday party or a family reunion. More than 2,500 years ago Lord Mahavir, the 24th and last Tirhankara, or spiritual leader of the…
