Event: Rubber Duck Regatta
Buy a child, feed a duck — er, switch those around. That's the theme of the18th Annual Rubber Duck Regatta, which raises more than $550,000 each year for the Freestore Foodbank when as many as 150,000 plastic duckies are dumped from the top of the Purple People Bridge into the Ohio during the P&G Riverfest…
Event: Ohio Renaissance Festival
This epic old-timey fair is a favorite among kids, with all the rides, games and dudes jousting. If you haven’t hit up the fest since you were in Velcro shoes, make a trip to Harveysburg some weekend through Oct. 21 rediscover the Ohio Renaissance Festival as an adult. There’s a ton of food, shopping and…
Event: Guinness Oyster Fest
Face it: Germans almost monopolize the fall food festival scene in Cincinnati with über Oktoberfest enthusiasm. If you’re growing weary of Limburger cheese and all things wurst, the Guinness Oyster Fest might be a good point of respite. Succulent raw and cooked oyster dishes will be available courtesy of Washington Platform, and Guinness will dole…
Art: SANDWICHFOCUS
In just more than a month, nearly every art university, gallery and museum in town will be hosting photography-related exhibitions of lens-based art for the month-long biennial FotoFocus. As a send-up of the media-based citywide event, the absurdist-leaning artist collective Museum Gallery/Gallery Museum is putting on SANDWICHFOCUS, wherein the gallery will showcase “a variety of…
Event: Full Moon BRIGHT Ride
The Urban Basin Bicycle Club holds open bike rides a round the Over-the-Rhine and Downtown area nearly every week. But it’s only once in a blue moon that the ride would fall on a Final Friday during … a blue moon. This “short, flat, happy, smile-making ride,” as its event creators describe, will snake around…
Art: Be Easy
Good news — 1305 Gallery reopens this Friday after a several-month hiatus with Be Easy, an exhibition of new ceramics by local artist Katie Schwartz. Schwartz’ work features “two-dimensional narratives on three-dimensional surfaces,” which seems to mean an array of animal life presented in amusing but thought-provoking style. These distinctive individuals are closely related to…
Music: Slim Cessna’s Auto Club
The members of Denver’s Slim Cessna’s Auto Club call their music simply “American” due to its mélange of domestic styles, while their press materials label them a “revolutionary force in Country music.” While the band’s sound comes across as true, soul-baring and authentic (with the use of upright bass, piano, pedal steel and banjo), its…
Art: Dine Early, Late Viewing
Be both stylishly early and fashionably late. This evening is the last opportunity for an early Thursday dinner in the Cincinnati Art Museum’s Terrace Café and after-hours viewing of the special exhibitions Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit and The Art of Sound: Four Centuries of Musical Instruments. The café, usually closed after 3 p.m., has…
Comedy: Robert Hawkins
Though he tries to deny it, Robert Hawkins is one of America’s best joke writers. “If you look at Twitter,” he says, “I’m not even in the top 100. I just have an instinct for writing jokes.” That he does. “The Bible says ‘Love each other as you would love yourself,’ but you can’t go…
Theater Season Heats Up
As the final weeks of summer cool down, it’s time for Cincinnati’s theaters to turn up the heat. Most companies open their 2012-2013 seasons right after Labor Day, so this week I offer a collection of previews. Most theaters roll out shows they hope will create a lot of buzz; their best chance to tout…
Two Big Herzog Happenings This Week
There has been more activity downtown at the former home of the historic Herzog recording studios than there has been since the studio’s heyday in the ’40s, when legendary songs were recorded by everyone from Flatt and Scruggs and Patti Page to The Delmore Brothers and Hank Williams. (For some background on Herzog, check out…
Morning News and Stuff
Conservative groups are pushing Ohio to purge its voter rolls. The move is largely seen by Democrats as an attempt to disenfranchise and suppress voters. The groups in support of the purge, which include Judicial Watch and True the Vote, typically cite voter-related errors and voter fraud as the main reason for their efforts, but…
Jello Biafra
One of the hardest things about growing up is watching the ideological heroes of your youth — be they debauched and drugged-out or politically minded and hyper-socially aware — “lose their religion,” so to speak. Hearing songs by The Clash used in car commercials, for example, can be soul-crushing, enough to make you reexamine your…
Paleface
Though he has a big, loyal cult following, singer/songwriter Paleface is the kind of musician who paved the way for others and influenced many, yet never really received the full proper acclaim he deserved. But unlike, say, Big Star, whose Power Pop songs inspired everyone from The Afghan Whigs to Gin Blossoms long after they’d…
Leslie West
As the innovative guitarist and imposing 300-pound frontman for Mountain, Leslie West was the king of power and tone in the ’70s, inspiring successive generations with his thunderous riffs and incredible melodic senses, as evidenced in the timeless crunch of "Mississippi Queen" and the subtle yet powerful beauty of "To My Friend." After Mountain came…
CincyMTV: Recent Local Music Videos
• At this weekend's Whispering Beard Folk Festival in Southeast Indiana, masterful Cold Spring, Ky., Americana group The Kentucky Struts debuted their great new music video for the ominous, creeping and soulful tune, "Country Road," from their The Year of the Horse album. The band made the video with Keith Neltner and Brian Steege, who…
New Edgecliff Theatre Cancels ‘Talk Radio’
New Edgecliff Theatre will cancel its first production of the season, largely the result of its need for a new venue. The group has performed in the Columbia Performance Center, the "pink church" on Eastern Avenue in the Columbia-Tusculum neighborhood on Cincinnati's East Side, for several years. Without much notice over the summer, NET was…
Zoning Approval Recommended for Anna Louise Inn
The Cincinnati Historic Conservation Board will receive a recommendation on Monday to approve a conditional use permit for the Anna Louise Inn, which would allow the Inn to move forward with a multimillion-dollar renovation of its building. The Conservation Board staff reviewed the standards required for conditional use and the Anna Louise Inn’s application, concluding…
Tucker’s Restaurant Could Claim Cincinnati’s First Parklet
There's not much green in the area of Over-the-Rhine north of Liberty Street, where Vine Street still finds itself home to a slew vacant buildings, vandalism and littered sidewalks. You won't find trees; just the occasional wayward clumps of grass that manage to triumph through cracks in the concrete. That's an odd dichotomy to correspond…
Wussy to Join Heartless Bastards on Tour
Cincy rockers Wussy have stepped up their game in terms of touring and promotions big time. It was previously announced that the group would join Cincy legends The Afghan Whigs on their upcoming U.S. tour run. Now, immediately following those (mostly sold out) dates, Wussy is set to join another local favorite, Heartless Bastards (now…
Curtain Call: Last Call for ‘Xanadu’
Most of the theaters in town are gathering their strength for the fall season, so there's not much to recommend this weekend — unless you haven't made it to the Carnegie in Covington yet to see the delightfully silly production of Xanadu. (Review here.) The recipe for this delicious concoction is a really lame movie…
Whispering Beard Folk Festival Starts NOW
The summer music festival season is winding down, but area fans of Americana/Folk/Roots music of varying stripes have a big one to look forward to this weekend, as the fifth annual Whispering Beard Folk Festival returns to the Old Mill Campground in nearby Friendship, Ind., starting in just a few hours. Founded in 2008, Whispering…
Morning News and Stuff
Voters First is suing to get the original language restored on its redistricting amendment, which will appear on the November ballot as Issue 2. The organization succeeded in gathering enough signatures for its ballot initiative by July 28, but the Republican-led Ballot Board, which is chaired by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, changed the…
State Grant Helps LGBT Homeless Youth
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that grant money will go to a local organization to help homeless youth. Some of the money, which is taken from the State Victims Assistance Act, will go to Cincinnati-based Lighthouse Youth Services (LYS) to help victims of domestic violence, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, between…
Your Thursday To Do List
Before blogs and screens and sites made information-sharing almost instantaneous, the Linotype type casting machine was crucial to printing newspapers. In fact, before this “Eighth Wonder of the World” (Thomas Edison’s description) was invented in 1884 by Ottmar Mergenthaler, not a single newspaper in the world surpassed eight pages. Of course, the topic is particularly…
Why Steve Earle & John Hiatt Make Ideal Tourmates
There isn't a huge stylistic gap between Steve Earle and John Hiatt, so it makes sense that they would make a good tour package (one that hits the Taft Theatre tonight for an 8 p.m. show). They're both moderately successful Americana artists with slavishly loyal fan bases and solid bodies of work over long careers…
Free Salsa Galore Tonight on the Square
Fountain Square's popular Thursday evening "Salsa on the Square" concerts/dances — featuring top Salsa/Latin Jazz groups from across the area (and sometimes beyond), numerous dancers and even free Salsa lessons (right at the scheduled 7 p.m. start time) — are coming to an end for the summer, with two more dates left. Like all concerts…
Morning News and Stuff
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown was in Cincinnati yesterday to launch his Small Business Owners for Sherrod group. At the event, Brown touted his small business and job creating credentials and received endorsements from leaders of small businesses, which Brown says are vital to restoring the economy. A letter of endorsement from John Pepper, retired CEO…
Question Time for the Governor?
Some Democratic lawmakers want answers from Republican Gov. John Kasich. A group of Democratic state representatives has put forth a bill that would require Kasich — and every governor after him — to come before the Ohio House of Representatives 10 times per year for 45-minute question and answer sessions where the governor would have…
Why Did UC’s President Step Down?
University of Cincinnati President Greg Williams stepped down yesterday. According to reports, Williams walked into a UC Board of Trustees meeting, announced he was resigning effective immediately and left. Greg Hand, spokesperson for UC, said Williams resigned for “personal reasons.” No further explanation was provided by Williams. Santa Ono, UC provost, is taking over temporarily…
Talking to Strangers
T alk shows used to be about talk. Conversation was cultivated, not cut off. Like much of our overly orchestrated, politically correct contemporary culture, talk shows are now places where spontaneity goes to die. Even our “reality” shows are anything but real. Ted Clark is here to reverse that trend with Ted Clark After Dark,…
Rounding Third (Review)
The title of Richard Dresser’s 2002 play, Rounding Third, the current production on board the Showboat Majestic, is a pretty obvious clue that this is a show about baseball. There’s more to it than that, but the cliché that invites you to complete it is an indicator that there’s a lot that’s predictable in this…
Morning News and Stuff
The Ohio Republican Party has given an excuse for Franklin County Republican Party Chairman Doug Preisse’s racist comment: Preisse thought he was off the record. The defense solidifies that Preisse, who is also a top adviser to Gov. John Kasich, was being honest — just not public — when he wrote in an email to…
Premium Rush
Writer David Koepp (Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man) steps behind the camera to capture the visceral thrills and adventures of an NYC bike messenger (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) assigned to deliver a package that a certain cop (Michael Shannon) doesn’t want to see make it to its destination in time. It will be fun to see if Koepp can…
Votto on Injury, Rehab and Watching a Winner
When the Reds announced that Joey Votto needed knee surgery and was going to miss a month, most thought the best-case scenario would be the first-place Reds treading water and hopefully keeping the Pirates and Cardinals at bay. And even that was seen as a bit optimistic. But since the announcement on July 17, the…
W&S Flyby: ‘Stop Bullying Inn’
Spectators at the Western & Southern Open’s finals on Aug. 19 also saw a plane flying overhead pulling a banner protesting the tournament’s corporate sponsor. The banner read: “W&S Stop Bullying Anna Lou Inn stpws.com.” The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition released a statement on Saturday describing the banner as proof for local and national leaders…
Conference Addresses HIV/AIDS in African-American Community
According to the CDC, 51 percent of the U.S. population diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2007 was African-American, making it by far the race or ethnicity most heavily plagued by the disease. That statistic is one that’s prompted local health advocates to combine efforts to address the issue in Cincinnati with a series of monthly town…
GOP Brings Race into Ohio’s Early Voting Controversy
“I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout machine.” So said Doug Preisse, chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party, in an email to The Columbus Dispatch. The racist comment came at the height of a controversy regarding early voting in Ohio.…
Cincinnati vs. The World 08.22.2012
Some farmers are feeding cows discounted expired candy supplemented with nutrients instead of grain to deal with corn shortages due to drought. WORLD -2 A Portland, Ore. bike lover got revenge after his $2,500 Fuji bike was stolen when he found the bike posted on Seattle Craigslist and launched a successful YouTube-viral sting operation that…
Josh Mandel Brings New Brand of Dishonesty
Congratulations are in order for Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel. As part of his U.S. senatorial campaign, Mandel, a Republican, has earned his sixth “Pants on Fire” rating from fact-checking website PolitiFact. With the new award, half of Mandel’s ratings are now “Pants on Fire,” “False” or “Mostly False.” If “Half True” is included in the…
Quote Approval? Oh No You Didn’t
Anyone who cares already knows that the contents of the “official” Congressional Record are bullshit. Members can delete things they’ve said and add things they’ve never said. Now, some major news media, including the New York Times, have put a foot on that slippery slope. They have exchanged journalists’ independence for access to presidential candidates and advisers. The…
Hit & Run
A former getaway driver (screenwriter and co-director Dax Shepard) in witness protection has to high tail it on his own, with his girlfriend (Shepard’s real-life spouse Kristen Bell) in tow, once his old gang (led by a dreadlocked Bradley Cooper) comes a-knocking, seeking a secret stash of money from their last heist. Shepard is known…
Secret Service
R ival political parties in Ohio probably know more about your elected officials than you do. It’s common practice for the major parties to file open records requests to get everything from schedules and emails to staff resumes from officeholders. “This is something we do every week. It’s not something that’s uncommon,” says Ohio Republican…
Pussy Galore, Music vs. GOP and Megadummy
HOT: Pussy Galore The members of all-female Russian Punk Rock band Pussy Riot were found guilty and sentenced to two years in jail for their guerilla-style anti-Putin musical protest inside a church in February. The charge was the same one I was found guilty of for gluing crayons to a table in third grade: “hooliganism.”…
Worst Week Ever!: Aug. 15-21
WEDNESDAY AUG. 15 It’s always nice to see people from around these parts succeed. Even if their careers take them elsewhere, it’s easy to take a sense of hometown pride in their accomplishments. Trey Radel once lived in Cincinnati and graduated from Elder High School. Today he won an important primary in Florida and became…
#RestInPeace
If a public figure’s name is trending on Twitter, you can generally assume one of the following: They just cut their hair (GASP!), updated their relationship status or died. More and more frequently I am discovering that a famous person has passed away the same way I find out a lot of stuff these days…
Southgate House … Revived
Ten months after longtime owner/operator of the historic Southgate House in Newport, Ross Raleigh, was forced to hand over the mansion keys to new owners after some legal wrangling, it was announced Aug. 15 that a “new” Southgate House is booking shows and nearly ready to open for business. The new music venue — called…
Shadowland
Like a lot of Cincinnati neighborhoods, mine — Walnut Hills — is segregated and there are fine, even invisible-to-the-unknowing-eye dividing lines separating beauty from filth, danger from safety, white from black and the strugglers from the affluent. My hub is beautiful: From my windows I spy potted flowers, new street lights and landscaping that give…
The Apparition
Can you really trust a horror film with a PG-13 rating? Here’s another spook story — this time a college experiment goes awry, unleashing a dangerous spirit — that we’re supposed to believe can scare us to death without truly going dark and gruesome. What this means is writer/director Todd Lincoln will give us lots…
Ramblin’ Through History
T his is the year of the Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration, with concerts occurring throughout the nation. But there are precious few musicians still active who were close to the Great American Troubadour while he was alive. Guthrie, who wrote “This Land Is Your Land” and many other folk classics, died in 1967 of Huntington’s…
Fall TV Preview
As summer winds down, students head back to school, football fans flex their tailgating muscles, fashionistas break out new wardrobes and TV people prepare for the return of fall favorites. Here’s a peek at what’s to come this season. American Horror Story: Asylum (October, FX) – Last year’s terrifyingly delightful breakout has kept a lot…
New Art Book and Projects for Shinji Turner-Yamamoto
The most profound and beautiful art installation of recent years in Cincinnati — an inspiration for what public art here can be — was Shinji Turner-Yamamoto’s 2010 “Hanging Garden.” It continues to have an afterlife. Inside the empty, deconsecrated and well-worn Holy Cross Church in Mount Adams, a live birch tree still bearing green leaves…
Final Frame: Remembering Tony Scott
During this year’s Fourth of July opening week notices, in providing a summary for Oliver Stone’s Savages, I wrote that Stone sought “to show that he’s still got a little life left, but from the trailers, it (Savages) looks more like another violent Tony Scott (in the Man on Fire mode) oversaturated actioner.” Rarely do…
Anti-Energy Drinks: Xanax in a Can
A couple years ago, after marveling at the huge display of oddly named, menacingly packaged “energy drinks” at a local grocery store, I decided to dedicate one of the first Lost in the Supermarket columns to the boost juice. After sampling a variety of the beverages, I’d decided they all tasted about the same (most…
Northside’s Lisa Kagen Masters Practical Creativity
Lisa Kagen is an artist, a chef, a parent and an entrepreneur — and all of those identities factor heavily into the operation of her two Northside businesses: Melt Eclectic Deli and Picnic and Pantry, a market that serves healthy, sustainable groceries and prepared foods. Kagen’s impact on Northside has extended beyond the people she…
Antonio Adams Gives Celebrities a Reality Check
See Unrealized and Unforeseen, Antonio Adams’ solo show at Thunder-Sky Inc., and leave feeling a bit more special, even if you aren’t on his list of “good celebrities,” superstars and Divas of Pride. Just witness the transformative power of art. As a co-founder of Visionaries & Voices and Thunder-Sky Inc., Adams transformed himself from a…
From ‘Rocko’ to ‘Reno’
T he sixth annual Brew Ha-Ha is upon us. Thousands will descend on Sawyer Point this Friday and Saturday to sample and enjoy more than 100 brands of beer, all while enjoying the humorous stylings of 50 comedians on three stages. In addition to several top locally based headlining comics like Alex Stone, Geoff Tate…
