Easy Etiquette
It makes total sense. You spend your hard-earned money on a meal out, so everything should be your way or the highway, right? Well, not so fast, hot shot. While it’s true that you should expect the food to be well-prepared and delivered in a professional manner, every good relationship relies on input from both…
Heritage BBQ Feast at 21c Louisville
If you're looking for a reason to skip town on a mini vacation, here's one: the Heritage BBQ Feast at the 21c Museum Hotel Louisville (700 W. Main St., Louisville, Ky.). Started in 2012, Heritage BBQ is a national barbecue competition dedicated to supporting heritage-breed pigs and engaging existing barbecue restaurants in the local and…
Salazar Hosts National Chef Charity Dinner
At noon on Sunday, Sept. 14, chefs from across Cincinnati and North America will head to Salazar in Over-the-Rhine (1401 Republic St.) to cook a multi-course charity meal to benefit Saving Sayler Park, which works to provide take-home food and toiletries for food-insecure students at Sayler Park Elementary. The participating chefs include: David Posey, Blackbird,…
Bavarian-Style Soft Pretzel Bakery Opening in OTR
Columbus, Ohio pretzel bakery Brezel (pronounced brayt-zuhl) will open a second location this fall in Over-the-Rhine. Owner Brittany Baum was inspired to open her hand-rolled Bavarian pretzel bakery after a trip to Germany in 2008. "Being a vegetarian in Germany, there aren't a lot of food options, so I pretty much lived on pretzels," she…
ArtWorks’ Big Pitch Winners Announced Wednesday
Eight finalists in ArtWorks' Big Pitch competition will each get a five-minute business-pitch session before a panel of judges and a live audience tomorrow night, starting at 6 p.m. at the American Sign Museum, 1330 Monmouth St. in Camp Washington. The judges will decide the $15,000 grand prize winner; the audience will pick a $5,000 winner. Two…
Event: OTR Country Club
Looking for the perfect place to catch the Riverfest fireworks but don’t have a rich friend with a river-view house/apartment or the desire to try to get to Sawyer Point by 8 a.m. to claim a patch of concrete? OTR County Club has the perfect solution — and transportation. Park your car at Washington Park and…
Event: Riverfest
More than 35 years ago, WEBN organized a fireworks show to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Now, it’s evolved into an annual, all-day celebration: Riverfest. In addition to good food, music and one of the largest firework displays in the Midwest set to music from WEBN, fest-goers can expect to see nearly 500,000 other people and…
Onstage: KSO Summer Series Finale
The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra hosts the final concert of its summer series at Devou Park Saturday, with a live performance of “Pops, Inc.,” works by Leroy Anderson, Richard Hayman and Henry Mancini. Boston conductor Arthur Fiedler began playing and recording light classics and novelty numbers during his tenure from the 1930s to the 1970s, creating…
Event: Cruise-a-Palooza
Whether you’ve got a fine car or just fine taste, Coney Island’s Cruise-a-Palooza features hundreds of makes and models, new and antique. Professional judges will award trophies to the top 50 cars and DJ Hughes will provide music for the entire family. Vehicle registration is from 10 a.m. to noon and costs $15 per car,…
Event: Bacon Fest Cincinnati
Under the impression that everything tastes better with bacon, greater Cincinnati restaurants are descending on Coney Island for a day of eating and celebrating bacon for International Bacon Day. Participating restaurants and food trucks include C’est Cheese, Pit to Plate, Urban Grill, SugarSnap! and more. Noon-10 p.m. Saturday. Free; $8 parking. Coney Island Amusement Park,…
Event: Ohio Renaissance Festival
Maidens, mages and minstrels take heed: 16th century England returns to Waynesville, Ohio, for adventure, merriment, craftsmen and giant turkey legs during the Ohio Renaissance Festival. The Elizabethan village covers 30 acres with daily stage shows (dueling swordsmen, rowdy pirates and jousters); a Medieval marketplace with glassblowers, blacksmiths and leather experts; human-powered rides; and Renaissance-period…
Art: Cody Gunningham Opening at Richard Butz Gallery
Recent Art Academy of Cincinnati grad Cody Gunningham will open a show of his oil paintings at the Richard Butz Gallery this Final Friday on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine. Influenced by both Vincent van Gogh and contemporary Romanian artist Adrian Ghenie, Gunningham made a transition from illustration to painting by way of studying under painter…
Art: Art After Dark
This month’s Art After Dark at the Cincinnati Art Museum — American Gothic Bourbon & Beer Garden — pays tribute to Grant Wood’s iconic painting, “American Gothic.” The painting will be on view at the museum from Aug. 30 to Nov. 16 during the exhibition Conversations Around American Gothic. But you can get a sneak peek…
Music: MidPoint Indie Summer Series
If you haven’t made it down for the free MidPoint Indie Summer shows on Fountain Square (or any other of the free series offered on the Square all summer) this year, you really missed out. Great, large crowds and lineups that mixed top-notch national acts with local/regional faves made it a summer to remember. You…
Sports: AVP Beach Volleyball Tour
The AVP Beach Volleyball tour is the longest-running professional beach volleyball tour in the world. This year, the Cincinnati stop features top-ranked mens and womens athletes including Kerri Walsh Jennings, John Hyden, Tri Bourne and April Ross. Over the course of the weekend, there will be several draws, competitions and a tournament final. There will…
Comedy: Nick Griffin
When Nick Griffin first started doing stand-up, he watched a variety of comics, but one comic really caught his attention. “Richard Lewis was a very early influence,” he says. “I remember him talking a lot about pain and being depressed and being a failure with women. And it didn’t come off as jokey; it seemed…
Music: Listen to This! History of Protest Music Part 2: 1962-1966
The second part of David Little's scintillating series of presentations, Listen to This! History of Protest Music Part 2: 1962-1966, occurs Wednesday at the library’s main branch. This time, Little — a longtime progressive political activist and public-policy communications consultant — jumps into the fire of the tumultuous mid-1960s with his topic, "The Heat of…
Onstage: Shakespeare in the Park
During August, six actors from the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company have toured to parks across the region with Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Both shows have more than six roles, so quick changes of costume and characters are part of the evening, making it all the more fascinating to watch. Productions are reduced in length…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all. It's morning news, and I'm earlier than usual. I'm as surprised as you are. The city of Cincinnati has announced it will cover medically necessary transgender surgery for employees under its insurance plan. A majority of city council signed a letter urging the change, which was then initiated by interim City Manager Scott…
Chef Michael Paley Leaving Metropole
It has been announced that chef Jared Bennett has been appointed to replace chef Michael Paley as executive chef at the 21c Museum Hotel's Metropole this fall. Bennett, former chef de cuisine at Metropole, will succeed Paley, who departs to pursue other opportunities. According to a recent press release, Paley and Bennett will continue to collaborate…
Art: Kehinde Wiley: Memling
“Sexy” and “hot” aren’t adjectives that spring to mind when thinking about the stately museum and its collection. But those words do describe the international star power of New York-based artist Kehinde Wiley. And it’s tough to imagine a place better suited for his small-yet-bold Memling series than the Taft. Wiley’s signature is to rethink…
Morning News and Stuff
Heya. It's news time. Got a few hundred thousand dollars sitting around? Want to be part of the gentrification renaissance in Over-the-Rhine? Step up and make your pitch to 3CDC! The development corporation has announced it will open up the 33 city-owned properties for which it is the preferred developer to other developers who want…
Crown Jewels of Jazz Festival Begins Tonight
The Crown Jewels of Jazz Festival returns Friday and Saturday with an adjusted format. While last year’s fest was spread out across the Over-the-Rhine area, this year’s Crown Jewels is more streamlined, with free events concentrated in OTR’s Washington Park. The fest kicks off Friday night with an 8 p.m. concert featuring unique and widely…
Morning News and Stuff
It's a gross rainy Friday, so grab some coffee and let's settle in with some news. Two local organizations that help veterans experiencing homelessness will be getting a $1.5 million boost, Secretary of Veterans Affairs and former P&G head Bob McDonald announced yesterday. A program run by Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries in Woodlawn will get…
REVIEW: 500 Miles to Memphis’ ‘Stand There and Bleed’
500 Miles to Memphis’ two most recent album releases are local classics that reside in two vastly different musical landscapes. Their 2007 album, Sunshine in a Shot Glass, offers 12 tracks of undiluted Country Punk. The album starts off with the band’s hit “All My Friends are Crazy” and doesn’t let up. The band’s followup,…
Morning News and Stuff
Morning yall! If you’re like me, you passed work crews installing the first stretch of streetcar tracks in the Central Business District today. If you’re REALLY like me (clumsy), you almost fell off your bike trying to get a better look at the work. This is not recommended. The track work is happening right around…
FotoFocus Is Bringing John Waters to Town
Filmmaker/provocateur, humorist, art collector and all-around pop-cultural icon John Waters is coming to Cincinnati on Oct. 11 as part of the opening-week programming of the FotoFocus Biennial 2014. He will be at Memorial Hall, performing This Filthy World about his long, rewarding career. Additionally, Waters' photograph "Inga #3 (1994)" is part of a FotoFocus exhibition, Stills. The…
MidPoint Music Festival Announces Free Shows
Thanks to an assist from sponsor P&G, one of the more anticipated MidPoint Music Festival performances this year will be a special free “happy hour” concert. Brooklyn Indie Rock group Real Estate will perform on the Midway stage the Friday of the fest (Sept. 26) at 6 p.m. Cincinnati faves The Yugos will kick the…
Duke Energy Spills Thousands of Gallons of Oil into Ohio River
Thousands of gallons of diesel fuel from a Duke Energy plant leaked into the Ohio River during the night of Aug. 18 during an oil transfer at a Duke plant in New Richmond, Ohio, about 20 miles upstream from Cincinnati. Greater Cincinnati Water Works shut off intake valves in the river until the spill cleared…
‘Calvary’ Asks Us to Walk Alongside a Good Man
A village priest (Brendan Gleeson) in coastal Ireland hears weekly confessions. His parishioners enter, knowing that there’s little to no anonymity in the booth because he knows them, each and every one, by name and voice, but there remains a strict adherence to the sacramental code of the ritual. And so, when an agitated member…
Sharonville Clinic will not Appeal Court Ruling, Must Stop Providing Surgical Abortions
Women’s Med Center, one of Greater Cincinnati’s two abortion providers, must cease providing abortions, Hamilton County Judge Jerome Metz ruled Aug. 18. The clinic has been fighting the Ohio Department of Health to stay open for more than a year. Women’s Med filed for a variance to rules stipulating a clinic must have admitting privileges…
Goodbye to “Bad Things” and Bon Temps
With two buzzed-about awards shows coming up this week — Sunday’s VMAs and the Emmys on Monday — this space would typically be dedicated to one of those. In a selfish but necessary decision, I must instead turn to True Blood (Series Finale, 9 p.m. Sunday, HBO), which ends its seventh and final season this…
Cincy Summer Streets Opens Roads to Community
On any other day in Walnut Hills, the streets would have been mostly populated by a stream of passing cars. On July 19, however, hundreds of people gathered to play, walk, run and bike in the open asphalt of the neighborhood. Woodburn Avenue and East McMillan Street were closed to car traffic for a mile…
Local Musician Instills Art Through Love and Literacy
Kathy Wade, the founder and CEO of Cincinnati-based arts education organization Learning Though Art, is a well-versed, albeit quiet, conversationalist when it comes to her brainchild, which will put up its second Crown Jewels of Jazz Festival this weekend. She’s passionate when describing what she does for her community and, really, many others across the…
Plays By Women: Where Are They?
A crowd of female playwrights came together in New York City in 2008 to express their concern that works by women were not getting produced by that city’s theaters. More than 150 playwrights attended the gathering, resulting in standing-room-only at the venue. Cincinnati native Theresa Rebeck told The New York Times, “I personally don’t think…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all! Was so busy chasing stories yesterday that I didn’t get a chance to do the morning news. Let’s catch up, shall we? Welp, that’s not good. A spill at a Duke Energy facility about 20 miles upstream from Cincinnati dumped 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the Ohio River late Monday night, officials…
The Brothers Sklar
A l ot of comedy falls under great scrutiny and derision, often unnecessarily so. Impressions, props, magic, duos — anything slightly out of the ordinary seems to open itself up to criticism. Yes, there are bad impressionists, but there’s also Frank Caliendo, Mike MacRae and James Adomian. There are bad prop comics, but then there’s…
Historic Lives Onscreen
A fter an awards season in 2013 dominated by a series of inspired stories ripped from the historic record — Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, The Wolf of Wall Street, Dallas Buyers Club (with its Academy-crowned acting tandem of Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey) and Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave — it is…
Opera Scores a Triple Play
S ince 2012, opera has been turning up at The Famous Neons Unplugged, the Arts Center at Dunham, Westwood Presbyterian Church and beyond. Three companies with tiny staffs and huge ambitions demonstrate the art form’s enormous range and potential, creating innovative, high-quality productions of 17th and 18th century operas, world premieres and even Wagner, the…
Robot Rock
S oon, you may hear a pronounced jingle whenever Contemporary Arts Center employees walk around their building. If so, it’s because they will be carrying change — lots of it — so art lovers can use the new payphone on the gloriously resurrected Metrobot. The landmark 27-foot-high, gold-colored aluminum robot sculpture by Nam June Paik…
Lessons from Our Past
Before last week, Ferguson, Missouri, a working class suburb of St. Louis, wasn’t on many peoples’ radar, and few would have thought to suggest it had much in common with Cincinnati. But after the police shooting Aug. 9 of an unarmed 18-year-old black man named Michael Brown and the subsequent protests in Ferguson, which have…
Fall Arts Preview
A giant robot will soon be descending on the city. Metrobot, the interactive aluminum sculpture by Nam June Paik, once greeted visitors outside the Contemporary Arts Center’s former space at Fifth and Walnut streets downtown. After years in storage, Metrobot has been cleaned up, reassembled and — like the Tin Man — given a heart.…
Opening Number
S hows that open seasons for local theater companies carry added freight: They tell theatergoers, “This is what to expect from us.” Managers want them to sell lots of tickets so audiences will be exposed to marketing for the coming season. If it’s a hit, that’s good news for the months ahead. Typically, Cincinnati’s theaters…
Brave New World
A s its name suggests, Cincinnati Ballet’s annual Kaplan New Works Series program has always been about what’s new. But this year marks an even greater evolution of the annual showcase. In addition to presenting the requisite titular new works — most often world premieres of somewhat risky, contemporary-leaning choreography — more significant shifts are…
Blend (Review)
In the past couple of years, the storefront at 14 E. Fifth St. in Covington has been a pizza place (Pizza Bomba), a gourmet sandwich shop (Wolf & Co. Bistro) and, now, a daytime café flanked by a strip club and a laundromat — not exactly a location that screams gourmet paninis and iced lattes.…
Worst Week Ever!: Aug. 13-19
GOP County Commissioners: Only Renovate One Dumb Old BuildingLocal leaders seeking to renovate Music Hall and Union Terminal are running into predictable problems, principally that Republican Hamilton County commissioners believe in vetting massive historical renovation projects in their basements rather than relying on the expertise of area CEOs who kick it with Obama. There is…
A Tale of Two Cities
Part One: Perfect Storms/Nothing New On April 7, 2001, Timothy Thomas was shot dead in a building alcove on Republic Street by Cincinnati Police Officer Stephen Roach after Thomas, 19, ran Roach’s legs off through Over-the-Rhine after a dispatcher broadcast to officers that Thomas had multiple “open warrants.” Those warrants were for seatbelt infractions. Another…
