Music: Rock Together: Indies for Gulf Coast
Several area bands are teaming up with the local chapter of the United Way to present a benefit concert this Friday at the Southgate House to raise money to help with the clean-up in the oil-stricken Gulf Coast. "Rock Together: Indies for Gulf Coast Relief" kicks off at 8 p.m. and features performances by The…
2010 CEAs for Theater
The Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for Theater hosted its 14th annual (and final) event Aug. 29 at Know Theater in Over-the-Rhine. The CEAs will join forces with the Acclaim Awards starting next spring to form one strong local theater awards program. Here are some sights and sounds from Aug. 29.
John Mellencamp: No Better Than This
From rowdy ’70s Punkish Pop stomper to ’80s heartland rocker to ’90s Americana bard to new millennium Folk provocateur, John Mellencamp has reinvented himself admirably over the past 30-plus years, albeit without the big picture importance, durable creativity or stylistic range of Bob Dylan, David Bowie or Neil Young. Mellencamp has always seemed to operate…
Music: MidPoint Indie Summer Series Featuring We Are Scientists
Dichotomy looms so large for We Are Scientists that it’s almost a provisional member. They’re a California band that’s lived in New York for nearly a decade. The members are inveterate smartasses in interviews and between songs on stage, although their finely honed sense of humor rarely comes through in the music in any obvious…
Takers (Review)
Takers, the new crime thriller from co-writer/director John Luessenhop (Lockdown with master thespian Master P), shares narrative DNA with Heat in that it focuses on a high-end heist crew. But these guys were conceived for a layout in GQ with slim pretty boys (Paul Walker and Hayden Christensen), an R&B lover boy (Chris Brown), a…
Music: Cincy Unity Jam 4
Cincinnati-based African musician Baoku Moses presents his fourth “Cincy Unity Jam” Saturday at downtown’s Blue Wisp Jazz Club. This installment of the quad-annual event — organized as a means to “bring people together to celebrate peace in unity through music and art” — features a wildly eclectic lineup of 12 performers, playing everything from Rock,…
Brownouts Used at Fire Stations
These are turbulent times for the Cincinnati Fire Department (CFD). With the city of Cincinnati massively over budget, officials are eyeing cuts to the department's funding just as spiraling overtime costs have led to temporary closures of some fire stations and the department is facing a constant deluge of critics, including local firefighters union leaders.…
Events: International Bacon Day Festival
Bacon tastes good. Certainly much better than pork chops or ham or anything else made from a pig. Just ask the contestants at the World Bacon Eating Championship, which is part of the International Bacon Day Festival 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday at the Blue Ash Recreation Center (4433 Cooper Road). Several of America’s most impressive…
Toadies: Feeler
The music industry works in mysterious ways, which is the nice way of saying that it must be hard for it to walk around with its head shoved up its ass. The latest example is the “new” Toadies album, Feeler. To recap, the Toadies roared out of Texas in 1994 with the platinum-selling Rubberneck, a…
Music: Ampline
Ampline’s latest offering (and debut album for Phratry Records), You Will Be Buried Here, features the band’s signature instrumental elements: Mike Montgomery’s shreddingly supple guitar work, Kevin Schmidt’s thunderous bass runs and Rick McCarty’s hammer-of-the-gods drumming. But there’s something else on Buried that is significantly less common in the Cincinnati-based trio’s previous catalog, namely lyrics…
Music: The Catfish Nation
Bootsy Collins has assembled a major party to pay tribute to his late older brother (and musical companion) Phelps “Catfish” Collins, one of the most influential guitarists in Funk history, who passed away on Aug. 6. On Saturday at Covington’s Madison Theater, Bootsy hosts “The Catfish Nation Celebration,” featuring appearances by Ray Parker Jr. (“Ghostbusters”),…
John Mellencamp, Kathryn Calder, Toadies and Eli “Paperboy” Reed
From rowdy ’70s Punkish Pop stomper to ’80s heartland rocker to ’90s Americana bard to new millennium Folk provocateur, John Mellencamp has reinvented himself admirably over the past 30-plus years, albeit without the big picture importance, durable creativity or stylistic range of Bob Dylan, David Bowie or Neil Young. Mellencamp has always seemed to operate…
The Disappearing Science of Covering Science
Mainstream news media have trouble covering science or anything else that involves a process and lacks a winner and loser. It’s worse these days since reporters covering that beat often were among the first to be fired in the search for profitability. Probably no one has fared worse from this institutional handicap in recent years…
Theater Community Parties at CEAs
CityBeat hosted the 14th annual and final Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for Theater Sunday night at Know Theatre in Over-the-Rhine, and as always the local theater community enjoyed the opportunity to catch up after summer breaks and celebrate before the new season gets underway. Awards were handed out in 27 categories, some voted on by the…
Events: Cincinnati Civil War Tour
The folks who created the Newport Gangster and Queen City Underground tours have a new installment that brings the city’s strategic role in the Civil War to life. Most locals know about Cincinnati’s role as an industrial powerhouse during the war, but it’s a rare treat to hear tales of our courageous black regiments and…
Events: Ohio Renaissance Festival
Armor clad knights, warhorses, mud wresting, swordfights, mead horns, hatchet throwing, weapon forging, fire juggling and giant turkey legs are just a few things the Ohio Renaissance Festival has to offer. Every fall, the 30-acre fairgrounds in Harveysburg, Ohio is transformed into a 16th century English village that’s teeming with hundreds of costumed performers that…
Events: Selections from the Collection of Patricia Corbett
Patricia Corbett is more than just the name of theater on UC’s College Conservatory of Music campus. She was a generous philanthropist who funded major arts institutions and arts programs around Cincinnati including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Music Hall and, obviously, CCM, laying the foundation for our current abundant arts scene. But what’s the fun…
Art: Creatures Great & Small at Miami Art Museum
Miami University Art Museum has a new curator and a new show. The show, which has an opening reception 5-7 p.m. Thursday and is up through Dec. 10, is called Creatures Great & Small and comprises three exhibitions: Animal Tales: Storybooks for Children; Great Creatures and Small Creatures. All are about the role of animals in art. Storybooks…
Onstage: Two Helpings of Shakespeare
What a great way to kick off the theater season: It's only September, and we already have not one but two Shakespearean comedies for your viewing pleasure. Cincinnati Outdoor Classics is offering Love’s Labour’s Lost at Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park. Most of the talent involved are drama students from UC’s College-Conservatory of Music, so…
Music: The Fervor with T.V. Mike and the Scarecrowes
Louisville’s The Fervor combines the twilight sway of Velvet Underground’s first album with Classic Rock-informed song arrangements and contemporary Indie Rock sonics for a mesmerizing, emotive sound that creeps and builds like a gathering storm. The now-foursome has been together since 2005, formed around the plush, bewitching vocals and churning piano of frontwoman Natalie Felker.…
The Catfish Nation Celebration
Bootsy Collins has assembled a major party to pay tribute to his late older brother (and musical companion) Phelps “Catfish” Collins, one of the most influential guitarists in Funk history, who passed away on Aug. 6. This Saturday at Covington’s Madison Theater, Bootsy hosts “The Catfish Nation Celebration,” featuring appearances by Ray Parker Jr. (“Ghostbusters”),…
Events: Riverfest
If you’re wondering how to properly kiss summer goodbye, free up your Sunday. Riverfest kicks off with musical guests that perform from noon until the hotly anticipated firework show commences at 9:05 p.m. Live acts include Flaregun (a Matchbox 20 tribute band?), Big Rock Club (an actual cover band), One Man Electrical Band and local…
Events: The Brush Factory Oakley Opening
Local designer, entrepreneur and DAAP-grad Rosie Kovacs found beauty and history in an abandoned brush manufacturing and janitorial supply building in Brighton. Along with co-founder Hayes Shanesy, she transformed that “remnant of another era” into The Brush Factory, a functioning studio and retail space, in December 2009. Keeping the spirit of the location alive, they…
The Fervor with T.V. Mike and the Scarecrowes
Louisville’s The Fervor combines the twilight sway of Velvet Underground’s first album with Classic Rock-informed song arrangements and contemporary Indie Rock sonics for a mesmerizing, emotive sound that creeps and builds like a gathering storm. The now-foursome has been together since 2005, formed around the plush, bewitching vocals and churning piano of frontwoman Natalie Felker.…
Events: Guinness Oyster Festival
Guinness technically isn’t an aphrodisiac, but oysters are. With the two combined on top of a few shots of Jameson Irish Whiskey, it’s a safe bet that folks who attend the Guinness Oyster Festival on Fountain Square will have an exceptionally hot Saturday night — if they’re able to make it back to their bed.…
Art: Richard Fruth at Eva G. Farris Art Gallery
If a man screams alone in the expanse of Northern frontiers, does he make a sound? Local sculptor Richard Fruth spent part of his summer in Denali, Alaska, and returned to craft miniaturized recollections of his experiences hiking and otherwise communing with the wilderness in his new exhibition opening Friday at Thomas More College’s Eva…
Rock Together: Indies for Gulf Coast Relief
Several area bands are teaming up with the local chapter of the United Way to present a benefit concert this Friday at the Southgate House to raise money to help with the clean-up in the oil-stricken Gulf Coast. "Rock Together: Indies for Gulf Coast Relief" kicks off at 8 p.m. and features performances by The…
Comedy: Tom Rhodes
If you’re a familiar with Dutch television, you might know American comedian Tom Rhodes as the host of his own late night talk show. For five years he hosted a chat show in the Netherlands and is still widely recognized there. The whole thing came about quite by accident. “I had a sitcom on NBC…
Cincy Unity Jam
Cincinnati-based African musician Baoku Moses (pictured) presents his fourth “Cincy Unity Jam” Saturday at downtown’s Blue Wisp Jazz Club. This installment of the quad-annual event — organized as a means to “bring people together to celebrate peace in unity through music and art” — features a wildly eclectic lineup of 12 performers, playing everything from…
Hank Williams Celebration SOLD OUT
A few tickets remain for tonight's celebration of the 61st anniversary of music legend Hank Williams' seminal recording sessions at the E.T. Herzog Recording Company studio space downtown. The live recording/performance event will feature local Country artist Dallas Moore and famed studio musician Jody Payne (a longtime Willie Nelson sideman) using the old second-floor Herzog…
Dennis Harrington Honored
Sunday afternoon, some 100 people (perhaps many more — it was really crowded!) gathered at the downtown studio of artist Tom Bacher for a surprise party celebrating Dennis Harrington's 30-plus years of work in Cincinnati's visual arts community. Harrington currently is director of the non-profit Weston Art Gallery in the Aronoff Center for the Arts.…
Friday Movie Roundup: Is 3-D Here to Stay?
Before a recent Saturday matinee screening of Alexandre Aja's Piranha 3D — which, for the record, is a unabashedly bloody excursion into B-movie mayhem — I took in trailers for no less than five new 3-D movies: Resident Evil: Afterlife, Tron: Legacy, Green Hornet, Jackass 3D and Saw 3D, all of which and more (including…
Businesses Rally Against Hate Crime
Six gay-oriented taverns in Covington are teaming up Saturday for a “Zero Tolerance for Hate Crimes” event, in response to a recent violent attack on four people at a nearby gas station. The event, which begins at 9 p.m., involves a gathering at the corner of Pike and Main streets in a show of strength…
Mayhem Festival Recap
Shadows Fall is a heavy metal band from Springfield , Massachusetts , formed in 1995. Although the band has experienced several line-up changes, for most of its recording career Shadows Fall has been composed of Brian Fair ( vocals ), Jonathan Donais ( lead guitar ), Matt Bachand (guitar), Paul Romanko ( bass ), and Jason…
Stage Door: Party On, Theatergoers!
Since 1997, CityBeat has sponsored local theater recognition through the annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. The 14th annual event is Sunday evening at Know Theatre (1120 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine); doors open at 6 p.m., program is at 7 p.m. It also happens to be the last CEAs for theater.—- With the advent of the 2010-2011 season,…
Ed Stern to Leave Playhouse After 20 Years
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park Producing Artistic Director Ed Stern today announced that he will leave the esteemed regional theater after two more seasons, following the 2011-12 season, his 20th. Ed’s tenure at the Playhouse predates CityBeat’s coming into existence: He began in 1992, two years before CityBeat began publishing. I had the pleasure of…
Play Me, I’m Yours
Piano enthusiast and teacher Jeremy Stevenson plays in Hyde Park Square as part of his goal to play all 42 Play Me I'm Yours pianos installed across the greater Cincinnati area.
Locals Going to Beck Counter-Demonstration
Several dozen Cincinnati residents will participate in Saturday's “Reclaim the Dream” rally in Washington, D.C. The rally was organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network after it was announced that conservative TV talk show host and self-described “rodeo clown” Glenn Beck was holding a demonstration on the mall in Washington, D.C.,…
Driehaus Touts Census Savings
Perhaps hoping to woo a few Tea Party voters, many households in Ohio's 1st Congressional District received a letter from U.S. Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Price Hill) this week, providing an update on the U.S. Census. The letter, on Driehaus' official Congressional stationery, notes that the 2010 Census effort was completed under budget and had a…
The Switch (Review)
We're not sure what kind of evidence Jennifer Aniston has on Hollywood's various studio executives, but it must be pretty incriminating given the continued avalanche of generic romantic comedies she's headlined in recent years. The latest — based on a Jeffrey Eugenides short story and directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, whose Blades of…
Pennywort Cliffs Hike
Key At-A-Glance Information Length: 2 milesConfiguration: Out-and-backDifficulty: EasyScenery: Classified forest and springsExposure: ShadedTraffic: LightTrail Surface: Mowed pathHiking Time: 2 hoursDriving Distance: 1.5 hours west of CincinnatiSeason: Year-roundAccess: Sunrise-sunsetMaps: USGS VolgaWheelchair Accessible: NoFacilities: NoneFor More Information: The Nature Conservancy, (317) 951-8818 or www.nature.org/indiana Special Comments: Pennywort Cliffs Nature Preserve is a wonderful place ot enjoy the…
Piranha 3D (Review)
Supposedly a reboot of Joe Dante's 1978 original (which, curiously, was co-written by John Sayles), Alexandre Aja's 3-D-enhanced version is an unabashedly bloody excursion into B-movie mayhem that features a cast of familiar faces (Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, Christopher Lloyd and Jerry O'Connell, as well as cameos by Eli Roth and Richard Dreyfuss). The 3-D…
SCPA and Lakota Schools
[WINNER] SCPA: On Aug. 18, three years after its groundbreaking ceremony, Cincinnati’s eagerly anticipated School for Creative & Performing Arts (SCPA) welcomed 1,400 students to its new $72 million building. The first public K-12 performing arts school in the nation, the new SPCA was designed to accommodate the unique needs of its creative students and…
Through the Looking Glass
My asthma hates that Cincinnati’s air is filthy. My open-mindedness is frustrated by how conservative this place is. And something unidentifiable inside me is irked by the segregation. But if I close my eyes real tight and hold my nose so I’m not able to smell the Ohio River, I can place myself back home…
August 18-24: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY AUG. 18 Dr. Laura’s quitting! Apparently she said the N-word 11 times during her radio advice show (without any hate or malice). So it’s great that this is what’s making her retire, not the entire career full of comments she’s made about homosexuality being a “biological disorder.” Here’s another classic: “A huge portion of…
Local Release Mania
• Acoustic Blues duo 46 Long celebrates its new Off the Rack Saturday at 8 p.m. at Molly Malone’s in Pleasant Ridge. It’s the twosome’s first covers collection, but, just as the duo defies Blues stereotypes in their songwriting and presentation, the new album’s offerings are more re-imaginings than straight covers. And the selections —…
Sky Sailing: An Airplane Carried Me to Bed
You could take the cynical view and surmise that Adam Young’s label is trying to squeeze every last dime out of the cash-cow that's become Owl City (of which he is the sole member). Ocean Eyes was Owl City’s second album but Young’s third (you really need a scorecard). You see, Sky Sailing pre-dates Owl…
MidPoint Indie Summer Series Featuring Brian Olive
Summer's winding down but MidPoint is still bringing hot Indie bands to the Square each Friday. Tonight, 20th Century Tokyo Princess kicks it off at 7 p.m., followed by J. Dorsey Blues Revival and Oxford Cotton. Brian Olive headlines at 10 p.m. Be sure to grab your MPMF wristband while you're there — it's less…
Hank to Thank with Dallas Moore and Jody Payne
The downtown space that once housed Herzog Studios — the facilities used to record legendary songs by the likes of Flatt and Scruggs, The Delmore Brothers and, most famously, Hank Williams (among many others) — is going into flashback mode Monday when it is once again used as a recording studio. The Cincinnati USA Music…
Los Lobos: Tin Can Trust
In the disposable culture of today’s music industry, it’s almost inconceivable that a band could stay together for close to 40 years without the benefit of sustained platinum sales/arena-seating success while rising from a relatively narrow niche. Inconceivable for most bands, but clearly not a problem for the massively talented Los Lobos, which formed in…
The Best Night of My Life (So Far)
Meeting my favorite celebrity has been on my bucket list, and earlier this summer I did it. My boyfriend dumped me for a guy he cheated with, so I decided to go out on a limb, blow $400, travel to New York City and see Woody Allen, the real love of my life, play with…
Survival of the Dead (Review)
George A. Romero’s return to zombiedom with 2005’s Land of the Dead was a cause célbre. The inventor of the game was back after a 20-year drought and ready to deliver more walking dead hungry for human flesh. While not as immediately satisfying as the first three installments in the Dead series, Land still possessed…
