Dallas Moore Readies “Hank To Thank”
Area label Sol Records is taking pre-orders now for the Dallas Moore Band’s next release, Hank To Thank, culled from the locally-based Country crew’s sessions one year ago with longtime Willie Nelson guitarist Jody Payne at the site of Cincinnati’s Herzog studios where Hank Williams laid down some of his early, big hits. —- Everyone…
Events: The City Flea
Urban, creative and local are just a few ways of describing the experience of attending the City Flea, a monthly event centered on showcasing the talents of the ever-growing community of artists, creatives and entrepreneurs in the Cincinnati area. The third and final summer installment of the City Flea is a great way to end…
Music: The Sweep
Bill Alletzhauser is pathologically busy with The Hiders, his acclaimed Roots Rock band with a trio of well-received releases. It seems natural to wonder why he doubled his band responsibilities and joined fellow Cincinnati band The Sweep. “Probably something bad that happened in my childhood,” Alletzhauser says as we huddle around the liquor table in…
Onstage: Noises Off
In 1970 British playwright Michael Frayn was backstage watching a performance of a farce he had written for actress Lynn Redgrave. He observed, “It was funnier from behind than in front, and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind.” That one day came a dozen years later with Frayn’s hilarious…
Music: Balance and Composure
The number of young Rock bands wearing ’90s influences on their sleeves is increasing seemingly with every day we move beyond that pivotal decade in “Alternative” Rock music history. And the influence reflects various elements of the era in varying ways, from the Grunge regression of Yuck to the Pixies-Pop dynamics of Surfer Blood. One…
Events: Guinness Oyster Festival
Slimy, slippery and salty, a three-word alliteration; it could refer to many things savory and unsavory. This festival deals in the savory category of those adjectives: oysters. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase 40 different oyster-based dishes from Washington Platform Saloon and Restaurant. The menu ranges from Po’ Boys to barbeque to sushi. Guinness…
Events: 41st Annual Canvention
Believe it or not, the art of beer can collecting extends beyond that Keystone pyramid you and your friends left on the kitchen counter last weekend. There are folks out there who are more serious about their beverage containers than the buzz-inducing brew they once contained — and they'll all be gathering in the Cincy…
Events: Riverfest
Celebrate Labor Day and the end of summer in the most exciting way possible this year at Cincinnati Riverfest. Since 1977, Riverfest has drawn over 500,000 people out to enjoy live performances and the Cincinnati Bell/WEBN fireworks featuring Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks live on the river. This year’s pre-fireworks performances will feature more than 15 bands…
Music: Rock the Bells
One of the best things to ever happen to live Hip Hop was the creation of Rock The Bells. Founded by promotions company Guerilla Union, which had collaborated with Cypress Hill on their annual multi-act Smokeout concert, Rock The Bells began as a single-day music festival in Southern California in 2004, headlined by Wu-Tang Clan…
Manchester Orchestra, The Cars, Christopher Cross and Warren Haynes
Over the past seven years, Manchester Orchestra has evolved from post-high school baroque Emo Pop naifs to a viscerally muscular, Southern modern Rock force. Throughout their development, the Atlanta quintet has managed to keep their hearts close to their early influences and their antenna tuned to contemporary concerns, creating a fascinating sonic graft of the…
Music: Moon High
Hailing from Ohio’s esteemed state capitol, Moon High is not your typical Folk/Pop quartet. They sell buttons on their website, moonhighmusic.com, but the images are not self-promotional depictions of their non-smiling, photo-composited faces from the cover of their excellent sophomore album, Six Suns. Instead, the images are of four of Jupiter’s moons. Moon High’s music…
Comedy: Matt Fulchiron
“I just talk about groundbreaking things,” says comedian Matt Fulchiron. “Things like relationships. No other comic is talking about that right now. Quirky things, observations. Now I’m really making myself sound like the typical stand-up comic, but that’s what I do.” The thing that sets Fulchrion apart is his reaction to the reactions of his…
Art: Femme
Femme, an exuberant show now at the Kennedy Heights Arts Center, showcases artists doing one of the things they like best: portraying women. Work by artists of both sexes is on view including Erica Cooper's takes on domestic life with children, witty prints by Beth Goldstein, Velma J. Morris' women portrayed in both straightforward and…
Juan Williams Whitewashes His Firing
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. — John Adams, in defense of the British soldiers on trial for the Boston Massacre, Dec. 4, 1770 August traditionally is a dead news month. Normally, members from…
Music: Brian Andres and The Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel
p { margin-bottom: 0in; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); }p.western { font-family: “Times New Roman”,serif; font-size: 16pt; }p.cjk { font-family: “Times New Roman”,serif; font-size: 16pt; } Although Brian Andres has been based in San Francisco for the past dozen years, he is a son of Cincinnati. His love of rhythm came to the forefront during his…
Art: Reductio Ad Absurdum
Photo by Aay Preston-Myint This Saturday witnesses the inaugural exhibition of Cincinnati’s newest non-commercial art space. Located in Brighton, Third Party Gallery will present Reductio Ad Absurdum, a group show offering works that investigate, critique and assess the artist’s relationships with a series of extra-aesthetic concerns surrounding the practice of art in contemporary society. Because more…
Morning News and Stuff
The Cincinnati Enquirer spent some time analyzing the rates of “gifted” students in affluent neighborhoods versus city schools, finding that rich kids are generally identified as gifted at a higher rate. No word on how often they drive really nice cars, go to Europe or have cell phones with good Internet. —- The Cincinnati Zoo…
Squeeze the Day for 8/30
Music Tonight: Cleveland Art Punk band HotChaCha bring its dancey Post Punk rhythms and soulful melodies to Newport’s Southgate House tonight, playing the club’s Parlour room. The show is the fourth date on the Northern Ohio foursome’s extensive nationwide run with eclectic upstate New York Indie septet Summer People (which has been compared to The…
Home (Review)
Critic's Pick One man’s story. A parable. Searing social commentary. A fairytale. A slice of history. You could apply any of these descriptions to Samm-Art Williams’ 1979 play Home, a breakthrough script from the Negro Ensemble Company that was nominated for a 1980 Tony Award. The Cincinnati Playhouse produced it in 1981, but it’s not…
Colombiana
Zoe Saldana, coming off a loose and suitably gritty B-movie turn in The Losers, stars here as a highly efficient assassin with a deep debt of vengeance to repay. Luc Besson (the writer-producer behind The Professional, The Transporter franchise and Taken) and director Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3) would seem to be the perfect team to…
Squeeze the Day for 8/29
Music Tonight: The Outlaw Country movement that emerged in the late ’60s showcased, as the name suggests, a renegade sound that didn’t pretty up Country for a Pop audience, instead keeping everything down and dirty, building a bridge between Country and Southern Rock that fed into the “AltCountry” trend of the past 20 or so…
‘Fricative’ Making Noise at Indy Fringe
If another Cincinnati theater critic actually attended the Cincinnati Fringe, she might know that Performance Gallery’s fricative was not a production from “last year’s” Fringe, as she posted recently in her blog. It was, in fact, three years ago when it won a 2008 Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Best Alternative Theatre Performance. —- Performance Gallery,…
Morning News and Stuff
Steve Chabot will host another town hall meeting tonight, this time in Westwood and everyone is welcome to bring their cameras to record the public official hosting a discussion in a public space. Unlike last time.—- A local woman has been sued for defamation after submitting an unflattering online review of a day care center,…
The Bill Goodman Gun Show from a Fly on the Wall
Author's note: Let me preface this article by saying that my position on guns teeters along with current events. The recent struggle between a Cincinnati Police Officer and a misguided teen that resulted in the boy’s death is the perfect example of why gun ownership can never be taken lightly. The fact is guns were…
Your Weekend To Do List: 8/26-8/28
If you're a festie fan, this is your weekend because there are three music festivals going on around the Tristate. Ohmstead Music Festival returns to Hannon's Camp American through Sunday, bringing Reggae/Rock groups The Cliftones, Skeetones, Revenge Pinata and more, joining The Ohms (who created the annual fest 10 years ago). Camp, browse vendors and…
A Decade on the Ohmstead
The MidPoint Music Festival isn't the only music fest turning 10 years old this year. The Ohmstead Music Festival — organized and presented by local Reggae rockers The Ohms — is also celebrating a decade of bringing together music fans with eclectic musical lineups and other fun features. It begins today (soon!) at Hannon's Camp…
Q&A with Peter Frampton
Peter Frampton was a leader of English Rock & Roll movement in the 1970s, sparked by the massive popularity of his epic 1976 live album, Frampton Comes Alive. Frampton is celebrating the 35-year anniversary of the album on the road with his "Comes Alive 35 Tour," which comes alive at Riverbend's PNC Pavilion this Sunday…
Friday Movie Roundup: Horror: Hollywood’s Breadwinner
I just finished reading Shock Value, Jason Zinoman's entertaining look at “how a few eccentric outsiders gave us nightmares, conquered Hollywood and invented modern horror.” The book celebrates a genre and group of filmmakers often ghettoized when compared to the better-known New Hollywood revolution of the 1970s, a rightly celebrated period and movement — roughly…
The Devil’s Double (Review)
The devil in this story is Uday Hussein, the notoriously decadent and monstrous elder son of Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein. The story’s double is Latif Yahia, a valorous Iraqi soldier whose recently published memoir about his experiences serving as Uday’s body double provides the source material for this film. Dominic Cooper plays both roles. His…
The Guard
With a pinch of Trainspotting irreverence and a dose of Pulp Fiction social satire, debut director John Michael McDonagh cobbles together this lilting black comedy set in the Gaelic region of County Galway. McDonagh also borrows from his filmmaking/playwright brother Martin McDonagh, who directed the rich atmospheric mood piece In Bruges for which Brendan Gleeson…
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Producer/co-writer Guillermo del Toro performs the neat trick of adapting the original 1973 television horror shocker Don't Be Afraid of the Dark into a tastefully suspenseful work of kid-friendly art, directed by newcomer Troy Nixey. In spite of some glaring plot inconsistencies regarding such matters as regional location and creature voices, Don't Be Afraid of…
Morning News and Stuff
Hurricane Irene's outer bands today reached North Carolina and is sure to fuck some shit up in the next couple of days. One couple even had to re-schedule their wedding. Sadface. Barack Obama said today that Irene is a huge, destructive bitch that is "extremely dangerous." I told him not to talk about my ex…
Squeeze the Day for 8/26
Music Tonight: This is the start of one of the more jam-packed music weekends of the summer, with numerous festivals (Feywill, Swinefest, Ohmstead, Taste of Blue Ash, Whispering Beard) competing with some quality club shows, concerts at larger venues and more. First up, a look at the less local-music-centric lineup for Swinefest and the always…
Stage Door: Swing on Sunday at Know
The Manhattan Dolls will make a one-night tour stop at Know Theatre on Sunday evening at 7:30, performing their Swing-style revue of tunes from the 1930s and 1940s, "Sentimental Journey," in the Over-the-Rhine theatre’s Underground cabaret space. The trio of singers from New York City travel the world performing for military events, air shows, award…
500 Miles to Memphis Does It “Live”
Cincinnati's hard-touring Roots/Rock/Pop band 500 Miles to Memphis has made progressively more impressive albums over the years, culminating in 2010's masterful We've Built Up to Nothing, an epic showcase of frontman/founder Ryan Malott's razor-wire-sharp arrangement and songwriting skills. And, though it's hard to imagine the band being any tighter or more energetically entertaining in the…
22 to Appear on Council Ballot
It appears there will be 22 candidates on the ballot in November vying for the nine open seats on Cincinnati City Council. As of today's 4 p.m. filing deadline at the Board of Elections, that's the number of people who had submitted petitions with enough voter signatures. At least five of those candidates, however, haven't…
MidPointer: Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu Blur Lines
Two of the more recognizable names on next month's MidPoint Music Festival roster (to Indie fans, at least) are Deerhoof (pictured) and Xiu Xiu. The groups have more than a festival in Cincinnati in common. Both were founded in California. Both are currently on the same label, Polyvinyl Records. And both are boundlessly creative, two…
Chabot Flip-Flops on Cameras
Congressman Steve Chabot could give Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci a few pointers about doing quick backflips. Less than three days after Chabot prohibited the use of cameras at a supposed “town hall” meeting in North Avondale and used the services of a Cincinnati police officer to stop offenders, the congressman is rescinding the rule for…
Local 127 Offering Sunday ‘Family Meal’
Local chef Steve Geddes is giving Cincinnatians the option to have an expertly prepared family-style meal with the all-new “Family Meal” at Local 127 (413 Vine St., Downtown), scheduled for Sundays when the options for eating out are sparse. The very first Family Meal took place last Sunday and featured chicken three ways — a…
Morning News and Stuff
Rebels rummaging through the newly overrun compound of fugitive Moammar Gadhafi found a bizarre photo album dedicated entirely to former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. While Gadhafi’s admiration of Rice is not news — In a 2007 interview he said, “I support my darling black African woman. I admire and am very proud of the…
Battle Raging Over Office of Environmental Quality
Among a standing-room-only crowd at a former Catholic church in South Cumminsville, a swath of green t-shirts materialized Aug. 16 on residents opposing a budget proposal that would dismantle Cincinnati's Office of Environmental Quality (OEQ). The public hearing of City Council's Budget and Finance Committee began with City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr.'s presentation and defense…
Q&A with Alter Bridge
Hard Rock group Alter Bridge was formed in Orlando in 2004 by Creed members Mark Tremonti, Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips after a tense Creed tour. Adding lead singer/rhythm guitarist Myles Kennedy (also a touring/recording collaborator with Slash), Alter Bridge quickly became more than a side project when Creed's break-up was announced a little later…
‘Twilight’ Convention Comes to Cincinnati
Still kicking yourself over missing all the Twilight action during July's Comic-Con International in San Diego? Cricket Sound Well fear not, fanpires, because the Official Twilight Convention is coming to Cincinnati! Whether you're Team Edward or Team Jacob (Spoiler Alert: neither of them will be there), The Hyatt Regency Downtown is the spot to be…
Squeeze the Day for 8/25
Music Tonight: August’s It’s Commonly Jazz concert series concludes this evening at Eden Park's Seasongood Pavilion with a performance by widely acclaimed tenor saxophonist Tim Warfield Jr. and his band the Unusual Suspects. Between stints in other artists’ groups (including Christian McBride and Terell Stafford) and session work on several Grammy-nominated recordings, Warfield has a…
Pioneering Ohio Band Readies Debut LP
In the history books, credit for the invention of Punk Rock often goes to The Ramones. But, like most great inventions, the New Yorkers had quite a bit of help blazing the trail. The seeds of Punk were planted around the world by bands that, if they had debuted in 1977, would have been instantly…
Morning News and Stuff
Libyan Foreign Minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi says, “It’s over for Gadhafi.” Obeidi, speaking safely from his home in Tripoli, says that Moammar Gadhafi is out of options and that if he were in charge, “I would tell them to lay down their arms."—- State Rep. Phillip Hinkle (R-Ind.) says he will not be forced into…
Art Museums Are Becoming Fashionable
I have seen the future of art museums and it is fashion/costume design. That’s a paraphrase of a famous review Jon Landau wrote upon seeing an early Bruce Springsteen concert, but I felt as if I’d just discovered the art-museum-world equivalent — at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s recent Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibit. The…
Double Dose of Mediterranean
For years, Mythos was downtown’s “Greek place.” At the satellite locations, it was a quick stop for a gyro or, at the main location, a plate of spanikopita with a serviceable salad. Then, suddenly, Mythos was gone without a trace. Overnight, the feta and the baklava vanished, and those of us who like the occasional…
Moonshine Whiskey and Wild, Wild Women
My daddy was a bootlegger. Well, not exactly — he never sold the applejack, or “hard cider,” that he distilled in our cellar when I was a little girl, and he always told us that it was “strictly for medicinal purposes.” But now it looks like dad was ahead of his time. Bootlegging’s on the…
Farming Makes a Comeback
There's no Aruba, Barbados or Maui for this bunch. A modern farmer’s life still portends grueling hours, endless chores and plenty of sweat, especially in the sweltering summertime when many of us head for the mountains or the beach. Yet six local farmers insist that they wouldn’t have it any other way. “We don’t really…
Back to the Future
E rnest Cline’s Ready Player One is a pop-culture geek’s paradise, a futuristic thriller that looks back to the 1980s and its various touchstones — everything from the Atari 2600 and obscure Japanese anime to the Vision Quest soundtrack and the films of John Hughes — with addictive, often inspired glee. Set in the grim, resource-challenged…
Council, Prosecutor Ignore Facts When Pandering
F orget about those last-minute summertime picnics, Labor Day fireworks and Halloween hayrides. I wish November would hurry up and arrive. That’s because it’s still 76 days away from the elections for Cincinnati City Council and the level of grandstanding by incumbents already has reached irritating proportions . Usually it takes at least until mid-September…
Jackson, Poland and Cassettes
[HOT] Don’t Wanna Rock With You So far, this October’s planned concert honoring the late Michael Jackson seems like a tribute to the behind-the-scenes turmoil of Jackson’s life rather than the impact of his music. Jackson’s mother said earlier this year that the concert will be held in Wales (for some reason), two weeks after…
A Feast of Fests
• This Friday-Sunday at Hannon’s Camp America facilities near Oxford, Ohio, the Ohmstead Music Festival returns for its 10th anniversary event. The festival was created by local Reggae/Rock band The Ohms back when the group was called Four Ohms. The fest has grown in stature, attendance and sheer size over the past decade. Camping, food…
Urban Rock Hunter
Artist Stevie Grueter digs rocks out of the ground with a railroad spike. She's barely 5 feet tall and lugs them home like she's cradling a baby. That's where her art begins — on the uneven surfaces of rocks. Her life began in the rubble of an earthquake. It struck the Greek island of Crete,…
August 17-23: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY AUG. 17 Most people know what it’s like to be tempted by a made-for-TV offer, especially if it includes a clock ticking down toward the moment you will no longer be able to receive the deal (at zero the commercial ends and the magic towel company goes out of business). Ohio Gov. John Kasich…
Mary Ronan and Steve Chabot
[WINNER] MARY RONAN: The superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools deserves a feather in her cap for providing the leadership that’s resulted in the district receiving an “effective” rating from the Ohio Department of Education. That once again makes CPS the highest-rated of Ohio’s eight urban school districts. Perhaps more importantly, only three of the district’s…
Desert Rockabout
M adison Bowl in Oakley is stuck in another time — orange booths, dimly lit bar, pinball machines, a jukebox, the smell of stale smoke. Ah, the yellowish ambience. Murray Stall, drummer for new Alternative/Progressive rockers The Desert Gun, greets me in the glow. Tall, thin and always talking or moving, Stall wears skinny jeans…
Gun People
This took place maybe five years ago. I consider myself a writer, but my business background still occasionally brings in consulting work. I was doing this for a company located in downtown Cincinnati. I’ll say downtown — maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I’m going to change a few facts around as I don’t want…
Eagle Has Landed
Photo by Ann Van Epps As Josh Eagle frames an answer, it quickly becomes apparent the response he’s offering has little in common with the question. Eagle pauses, then smiles. “What was the question?” he inquires. “I’m the king of fucking tangents. Hit the ball in left field and I’ll run in the opposite direction.”…
Fallon Horstmeyer [Turophilia Quesadillas]
Cincinnati native Fallon Horstmeyer is a passionate woman — passionate about quesadillas, that is. This spring, Horstmeyer opened Turophilia Quesadillas, a food truck that is semi-permanently located in the parking lot at the corner of Eight and Vine streets downtown. “Turophilia” means the love of cheese, but the love is really expressed in all of…
Our Idiot Brother
We all bring certain baggage to movies, and here’s one of my too-big-for-carry-on pieces: I hate holy fools. Film history is full of stories about cynical and/or Type-A people whose lives are changed for the better through their experiences with plot devices in the shape of a simple-minded person. Your Rain Mans and your Forrest…
Squeeze the Day for 8/24
Music Tonight: The Mad Hatter in Covington this evening hosts a full lineup showcasing the new breed of "Power Pop" — young bands evolving from so-called "Pop Punk," embracing classic Pop/Rock songwriting and developing a sound that is potentially more timeless. Georgian band Cartel headlines, as they gear up for a new EP release (due…
