Film: Bad, Bad Girls
Lion's Gate Films The Night Listener's Robin Williams looks for help. "The notorious one … I'm lightbeam, no stopping me … I am a live wildness left behind." — Maxine Hong Kingston, My Wicked Wicked Ways There have been memorable bad girls on screen. Just earlier this year, Sharon Stone tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate…
Music: The Non-Electric Company
Jared M. Holder Michael McIntire (center) dropped out of high school and performed on the streets before hitting the clubs with his Marmalade Brigade. They say it's the little things. And if you think about it, you hold a persuasive power in making or breaking a musician's big hopes — the "little thing" of…
None Dare Call it ‘Squished’
Jared M. Holder Green Party gubernatorial candidate Bob Fitrakis made a campaign stop in Clifton last weekend. This just in: Less news makes The Cincinnati Enquirer more reader friendly. That's according to a memo to the staff from Kirby Thornton, strategic marketing director at the paper. The memo announced the Enquirer is shrinking from…
News: Janitors Moving Ahead
Sean Hughes Janitors are winning union recognition, according to organizer Matt Ryan (second from left). The Greater Cincinnati Justice for Janitors campaign has made important strides in talks with major janitorial companies, some of which have agreed to begin a process of recognizing the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and contract negotiations. Janitors will…
Surviving the Dog Days
Early August, hot and humid, lots of people on vacation, not much going on — it's the very definition of Dog Days. That phrase has always seemed fitting for this time of year, even though I never knew exactly what dogs had to do with the general malaise of mid-summer. So I looked it up.…
Onstage: Skirting the Issue
Many veteran actors avoid solo shows: Too much memorization, too few lifelines. Jessica Rothert is not a veteran: The Northern Kentucky native and graduate of Cincinnati's School for Creative and Performing Arts will be a senior theater major at Indiana University. But she handles Claire Dowie's Why Is John Lennon Wearing a Skirt? with verve,…
Cover Story: The Politics of the Jail
Sean Hughes Why Heimlich's plan has some fit to be tied. proposed tax hike? For all the millions of words in newspapers and hours of over-heated remarks on talk radio about Hamilton County's jail overcrowding crisis, some common myths about the issue still persist among the public: · Myth No. 1: Violent criminals are…
Good Journalism Isn’t Treason
Others must explain whether it was a mistake to reveal how the Belgium-based SWIFT database is used to track suspected terrorist finances. Meanwhile, The New York Times is accused of treason for its SWIFT story, albeit by Pavlovian GOP attack dogs who overlook the same story on the same day in The Wall Street Journal…
Art: A Kind of Science
Jared M. Holder Local artist and art professor Ana England's "Seed" is now hanging at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Ana England's sculpture "Seed" (2001) is now hanging from the Cincinnati Art Museum's (CAM) ambulatory walls as part of a long-term decorative arts exhibition. The pristine, white, carved porcelain piece is an easy contrast to…
Diner: Lost in the Supermarket
Lara Smith Taking a wrong turn in the grocery store a couple of days ago, I stumbled into the baby care aisle and discovered a brand new fluorescently-lit world there. It's a world full of strange and unfamiliar products and shelves lined with brightly-colored artifacts. In short: it's Baby World. By shopping regularly at…
Film: Young Wolves
Miramax Coach Bill Resler addresses his Roosevelt Roughriders in a scene from The Heart of the Game. Sports films are generally disgusting celebrations of insufferable clichés. But this one took me completely by surprise: I found myself actually caring about a bunch of kids playing basketball. It's no wonder most sports films follow an…
The Thirteens Say Goodbye
This Saturday, Newport's Southgate House hosts a CD release party that defines "bittersweet." The release in question is Bad Apples, the first from rootsy rockers The Thirteens. It's also the last CD from the band. As the group was completing the album, frontman/singer/songwriter/guitarist/harmonica player Sam Nation was killed in a car accident. Saturday's show, obviously,…
Living Out Loud: : Peace Work
I know I'd like to subpoena George W. Bush, but that's as far as I've gotten. To cross-examine the president, I first need a trial. To have a trial, I must first get arrested — and that's where I'm stuck. What's the best way to go about it? Some of us are considering civil disobedience…
Critics’ Pick: Tea Room at the Taft Museum of Art
Scene: Step out from the intimate galleries of the Taft Museum of Art to enjoy garden dining at the Tea Room.It's a formal lawn gridded with brick walkways and rectangular flowerbeds and dotted with young magnolia trees. You'd never guess that beneath this deep layer of earth is a parking garage — which, by the…
Carbohydrates: friend or foe?
It's important to understand carbohydrates so that we can choose the proper ones needed to enhance our lifestyle in gaining or maintaining a lean, healthy physique. All carbohydrates are predominately fuel. They're used short-term, like gas in the tank. So the types and amount of carbohydrates to provide the right fuel mix — plus the…
News: DIY Alternative Energy
Matt Borgerding Andy Ferrell works on the "cool roof" of his home in Norwood. The roof is designed to cut cooling costs. We don't have to wait for a new national energy policy to reduce fuel consumption. Across Greater Cincinnati, people are using a little ingenuity, a little hard work and a little imagination…
News: Small Agency Addresses Large Need
Matt Borgerding Unity House hopes new volunteers will enable them to reach more kids. While Saturday shoppers at Findlay Market are taking the time to shop for the area's freshest produce, Tresha Gregory of Unity House World Peace Center is two blocks away, educating the minds of Over-the-Rhine youth. In conjunction with Mt. Ida…
Reds Pick Winning Over Popularity
Jerry Dowling August arrives to find the Reds not merely in the playoff hunt but leading the wildcard race as the week began, which means they are the hunted. Adding to their good fortune, the ball clubs doing the hunting aren't very good at it. As dedicated professionals, the Reds will tell you they're…
Jake Speed –
Notes: This song sprang into focus after my first ever visit to the eye doctor (which my blurry vision had necessitated for years). My newly altered view of the world set me to thinking about how a pair of proverbial glasses could alter my figurative view of things. However, I?ve discovered that not even a…
Van Porno
HOT Porn Halen Going into porn is traditionally a sign of a career in entertainment gone completely belly-up. Eddie Van Halen might not seem to be the ideal candidate for a life in the adult entertainment industry, but he's having a go anyway … on the "soundtracking" side (thank God!). The guitarist — whose groundbreaking…
The Book of Liz
Know Theatre Tribe Juan Carlos Diaz (left) and Chris Guthrie star in Know Theatre's production of Last Sunday in June. In Augusts past, I scraped for shows to write about. That's a distant memory in 2006. These days I have to pick and choose carefully. (Elsewhere in this issue you can read my review…
News to Use
The People Declare Peace The Peace Committee of the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center meets at 7 p.m. Aug. 2 to discuss plans for the Declaration of Peace, a nationwide series of protests and other events the week of Sept. 21. The meeting is at the Peaslee Neighborhood Center, 215 East 14th St. For more…
Conquest? What conquest?
Please take seriously your responsibility to educate as well as entertain/inform. The recent article "On the Wrong Side in the Middle East" (issue of July 26) was highly biased and omitted some key facts about the history of the region. He doesn't even say it was a British Protectorate during the 1900s up to WW…
Upcoming Concert Reviews of Of Montreal, Venus Hum and More…
Ben Pearson Venus Hum Of Montreal with Grand Buffet Thursday · Madison Theater When last we checked in on Kevin Barnes, creative sparkplug behind Athens, Ga., Pop powerhouse Of Montreal, he'd incorporated his newly acquired love of World and AfroBeat music along with his longstanding admiration for David Bowie's Glam work and Brian Eno's…
Locals Only: : New Kind Of Stoned
Philosopher's Stone Philosopher's Stone The location of the "philosopher's stone" remains unknown. Legend says that it can transform metals into gold, cure illnesses and create enlightenment. Reminds me of post-college — Vancouver, nude Wreck Beach, foreign dudes and bare-assed waitresses selling "funny" cookies. Now there's revelation. But according to the local band Philosopher's Stone,…
Music: Hidden No More
Jared M. Holder The Hiders began as informal jam sessions, but the band's debut release, Valentine, has brought them national attention via NPR's World Cafe. Come into the Batcave. When the door cracks open, momentarily, visitors go blind. Squint, then widen the eyes, nocturnally adjusting. Colored lights web-cover the ceiling and walls. Stimulation is…
How Will the Story of Katrina Define Us?
Editor's Note: Katie is unable to write her column this month due to a recent hospitalization. This column from last fall is an appropriate substitute as the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches. When Hurricane Katrina struck Aug. 29, 2005, I wasn't anywhere near the Gulf Coast. I was at home, in air conditioning, watching…
