Greed Hampers Health Care
They can yell all they want, but protestors at recent town hall meetings organized by members of Congress cannot escape the facts: The U.S. health care system is horrible compared to other democracies — and it’s largely because of the profit motive. An excellent article by author and ex-reporter T.R. Reid appeared Aug. 23 in…
Clifford Nevernew
One of the better Indie Pop/Rock bands in Cincinnati in the 1990s was Clifford Nevernew. Since they stopped performing, bassist Eric Appleby has played with local bands like 7 Speed Vortex, while singer/guitarist Matt Hart continues to play with Squirtgun, a Pop/Punk band that's released albums through Lookout! and Honest Don’s. The two have continued…
Music: Polvo
When Polvo called it quits back in 1997, there was no long-simmering feud that boiled over into a full-blown break-up. It was just a matter of friends who decided to move on to other ventures after a fairly momentous seven-year run that saw the North Carolina quartet tagged by some critics as the architects of…
Art: Chasing the Whale at Gallery Zaum
Even if you’ve never read it (or only read the CliffsNotes), Moby-Dick swims through the dark waters of the American psyche like the white whale that is the title’s namesake. In its most recent satirical incarnation, for instance, Captain Ahab buys insurance from the Progressive commercial lady. Pop culture aside, the 19th-century novel goes beyond…
Events: Guinness Oyster Festival
I have no idea why Cincinnati has any kind of seafood festival. We don’t live by an ocean. The whole thing screams Norwalk virus to me. But I don’t make the rules, so Fountain Square this weekend will host the Guinness Oyster Festival. McCormick & Schmick’s will provide some raw and cooked oyster dishes, there…
Rockin’ Crayons, Rush vs. Jay-Z and Soundgarden Soundtracks
[HOT] Rockin’ the Crayon Set We never thought we’d hear the words “Indie Rock” and “coloring book” in the same sentence (then again, we never thought we’d hear the words “Chris Cornell” and “Timbaland” together either, so nothing should really surprise us). But through the mail slot at MiniGauge headquarters recently came The Indie Rock…
Media Bridges’ Free Wave Riot
Community media center Media Bridges is turning 20 years old, and this Saturday it’s time to celebrate in honor of its past and in support of its future. “Free Wave Riot: Celebrating 20 Years of Local Music, Local Voices, Local Media” is a benefit concert at Know Theatre in Over-the-Rhine to raise money for the…
Events: Cruise-a-Palooza
Coney Island’s annual Cruise-a-Palooza is back with hundreds of classic cars, games, prizes and music. Even if you aren’t a gearhead or a Rockabilly person, old cars are fun to look at. They have weird headlights, odd-colored interiors and funny radios. Professional judges will be on hand to award prizes to the Top 50 cars.…
Art: Perspectives in Abstraction at NKU Galleries
Perspectives in Abstraction touches on the tireless topic of Abstraction’s universality in art and gathers three regional painters to participate in the conversation. Kim Krause’s reflections on the characters of Pandora and Sybil from Greek Myth deploy a vocabulary of radiant white plumes, polka dotted baubles, spinning colorful rings and fluttery pages that consider the…
Music: Free Wave Riot
Community media center Media Bridges is turning 20 years old, and this Saturday it’s time to celebrate in honor of its past and in support of its future. “Free Wave Riot: Celebrating 20 Years of Local Music, Local Voices, Local Media” is a benefit concert at Know Theatre in Over-the-Rhine to raise money for the…
Comedy: Mike Lukas
Though he grew up Cleveland, comedian Mike Lukas considers Cincinnati to be his second hometown. Back in the late ‘80s, the now L.A.-based comic started his first “day job” at AT&T downtown. “I was living in One Lytle Place,” he recalls. “If I had to be at work at 8 a.m., I would get up…
Onstage: 33 Variations
Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati Producing Artistic Director D. Lynn Meyers says, “In a season that bears the theme ‘Never Settle,’ 33 Variations is an appropriate beginning.” ETC is presenting the second staging of this work, which just finished its Broadway run (with Jane Fonda in the leading role) and is going on a national tour.…
MidPoint Indie Summer Series
Here's another depressing sign that summer, in fact, is drawing to a close: The MidPoint Indie Summer Series offers its last go-round Friday night. The season's 15th and final free show features the new Kiss Me Everlasting at 7 p.m. (featuring former and current members of Ruby Vileos, Roundhead and Thee Shams); Matthew Shelton’s Me…
Events: Ohio Renaissance Festival
The Ren Fest opens this weekend with re-enactors in elaborate costumes jam-packed into a recreated 16th century English Village. There are almost 100 shows daily including a pirate stunt show, a live joust, jugglers, magicians, assorted swordsmen and oh so much more. Meet Queen Elizabeth, eat a turkey leg, buy stuff from assorted artisans (I…
Events: Peterloon Estate Tour
Peterloon Estate is a 1930s Georgian-style mansion located in the woodsy bowels of Indian Hill. It has 36 rooms — which are preserved with period-authentic furnishings and art — a lake, walled gardens, terraces and expansive, beautiful lawns. When I was in high school I was lucky enough to be friends with the caretaker’s son…
Party: Freddie Mercury’s Birthday Party
Grammer's recently opened beer garden and newfound classy-sexy-cool clientele, make it a historical bar that retains the character of its time while hosting some of the coolest events and parties in town. One of which is the Freddie Mercury dance party. That party is happening again this year on Mr. Mercury’s birthday (Sept. 5). We…
Jim Adams and the Death of Religion Reporting
Jim Adams set a high standard for religion reporting in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Post was strong in those days, and Jim was one of those strengths. He died recently. As mutual friends reminded me, he had become a senior editor of The Post before retiring, further recognition of his abilities, but I knew him best…
Lit: James Braziel
Who would have thought Cincinnati was a breeding ground for dystopian fiction? A few months after local writer Peter Seidel published 2045: A Story of our Future, novelist and poet James Braziel gives us his new speculative fiction, Snakeskin Road. Released by Random House in August, Snakeskin Road is the story of a near-future Southern…
DJ AM vs. THE FINAL DESTINATION (mash up)
This weekend was the release of the newest installment in the Final Destination series, THE Final Destination and, much like THE Ohio State, it's nothing special.—- The fourth version of this soon-to-be high grossing horror flick is in 3D, which makes us hope for 3D boobs, which will finally trump Total Recall. The plot lines…
Theater CEAs a Big Hit Last Night
The 13th annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for Theater were handed out last night in a loose, fun event at Below Zero Lounge in Over-the-Rhine. Amazingly, 11 different local theater organizations took home a trophy: Cincinnati Playhouse, Ensemble Theatre, Cincinnati Shakespeare, Know Theatre, College-Conservatory of Music, New Stage Collective, New Edgecliff Theatre, Cincinnati Music Theatre, Footlighters,…
So Many Choices: The CEA Balancing Act
One hundred people and productions were nominated for the 2009 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards in theater, which were bestowed Aug. 30 at Below Zero Lounge before a big, happy, socializing crowd. Let’s say that again: 100 nominations. And that’s not the half of it. When local theater critics assemble the nominations in 20 categories, we typically…
The Spits
Leave it to The Spits to write a song called “Terrorist Attack” and make the experience a riot. In the video for the 2005 track from a split 7-inch on Puke Records, the cretins pair an insipid lo-fi Punk track with scenes from the David Carradine/Richard Roundtree '80s B-movie Q: The Winged Serpent. The poorly…
Polvo’s 12-Year Itch
When Polvo called it quits back in 1997, there was no long-simmering feud that boiled over into a full-blown break-up. It was just a matter of friends who decided to move on to other ventures after a fairly momentous seven-year run that saw the North Carolina quartet tagged by some critics as the architects of…
Student Murals Brighten Stores
Students at the Cincinnati Arts & Technology Center (CATC) had a productive summer of paint-slinging as they created a mural of local scenes for display at the bigg’s store in Florence, Ky. The mural is the 10th in a series of 11 murals being painted by the students for the supermarket chain in the Tristate…
Cincinnati Salsa Festival
The multi-day Cincinnati Salsa Festival brings some heat to the 'Nati all weekend. Get festival details here.
Imogen Heap, Bill Champlin, Dolores O’Riordan and Mew
My schedule continues to be a tangled mass of intention that resembles an old-time switchboard, with too many wires crossing to connect to every available jack in the hopes of accommodating hundreds of incoming and outgoing calls. And starting Wednesday, my day begins at 5:30 a.m. when I have to roust my daughter to get…
Shorts (Review)
One could argue that the late-summer release schedule is playing tricks on audiences thanks to the opening weekend face-off of the Grindhouse duo (Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino). Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds gives us more of what we’ve come to expect from him, but Shorts finds Rodriguez in family-friendly mode. And while he has proven to…
Stage Door: Fringe Festival (Slight Return)
This is a weekend to catch up on local theater — or perhaps to be reminded of the many riches we have available to us.—- On Friday and Saturday evenings at Know Theatre (1120 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine) you can see catch reprises of popular productions from the 2009 Cincinnati Fringe. One is The Success Show…
Friday Movie Roundup: Summer of Fading Stars
The New York Times published a story Aug. 21 that attempted to dissect why so many established movie stars have failed generate their once-golden numbers at the box office this summer. Among those mentioned were Denzel Washington (The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3), Eddie Murphy (Imagine That), Will Ferrell (Land of the Lost) and…
Onstage: Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for Theater
Don’t let anyone tell you that 13 is not a lucky number. In the theater, actors tell one another to “break a leg,” instead of saying good luck, so it’s probably an auspicious sign that the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards are now in its 13th year. One hundred lucky nominees will find out the winners on…
Art: Semantics Gallery Fundraiser
semantics gallery, that outpost of Cincinnati avant-gardism in the funky Brighton District, culminates its month-long annual fundraising effort on Saturday with its 7-11 p.m. Angel Spotted Above semantics Gallery auction of more than 100 artworks by such stalwarts as Amy Scarpello, Andrew van Sickle, Andy Marko, Kate Kern and the interestingly named Thriftstore Boratorium. CityBeat…
Music: Spindrift
Jim Morrison said it 40-plus years ago and it may well still be true: The West is the best. There’s more than a hint of The Doors’ dark poetic vision in the work of Spindrift, the latest projectors of dreamy, psychedelic, cinematic L.A. soundscapes, but that’s certainly not the only weapon in the band’s formidable…
Comedy: Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad
This traveling burlesque road show is like mixing your meat and dairy — it’s so bad, it’s good — cramming comedy, music and a bunch of loud Jewish girls onto one stage with some flashy costume changes. Started in 2003, originally as an event for the Jewish magazine Heeb, Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad boasts,…
Music: Fareed Haque and the Flat Earth Ensemble
Is there anything Fareed Haque cannot do with a guitar? The answer is seemingly “no,” based on Haque’s incredibly varied musical activities, which include fronting Jam icons Garaj Mahal, guitaring for George Brooks in his Jazz band Summit and maintaining a solo career that includes duo gigs with guitarist Goran Ivanovic and recording and touring…
Music: It’s Commonly Jazz
It's Commonly Jazz celebrates its 24th year by staying green. They've recruited local musicians and one nation act, they're encouraging concert-goers to ride the Metro and intermission will feature events that address living in health and harmony. There will also be games to show different ways of sustainable living. The final installation features Mandy Gaines…
CityBeat Podcast 23: The Dean of Cincinnati; Angela Pancella
This week we'll speak with local blogger Jason Haap and listen to a story of loss by Cincinnati writer Angela Pancella. —- Haap, who is also known as the Dean of Cincinnati, has been a fixture in among local bloggers for more than half a decade and edits The Cincinnati Beacon. Angela Pancella is a…
Schmidt Gets Taped in Election Suit
U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Miami Township) just doesn’t fare so well in unscripted situations. In the latest example of that political truism, Schmidt testified Monday for nearly five hours in a deposition taken by attorneys for David Krikorian. The deposition was taken in preparation for a Sept. 3 hearing before the Ohio Elections Commission. Schmidt…
Wine Bible
I just finished A.J. Jacobs’ The Year of Living Biblically, which recounts his adventures living strictly according to every law found in both the Hebrew and Christian testaments. I don’t personally take a lot of the Bible as literally true, but his memoir is a fascinating (and funny) read. When his wife becomes pregnant and…
Events: Taste of Blue Ash
Blue Ash tastes … good! Savor the flavor of summer for one last time with a visit to the 24th annual Taste of Blue Ash for "tunes, treats and terrific times." The three-day f
Aug. 19-25: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY AUG. 19With the school year rapidly approaching, most kids are spending their last days of freedom hanging with their buddies and saying things like, “Goddammit, I fucking hate school.” President Obama is hoping to change this youthful attitude with a back-to-school special starring himself, basketball star LeBron James and former-talent-show-winner-now-star Kelly Clarkson. In the…
The Chemistry of Color (Review)
Critic's Pick In 1988, renowned artist Jacob Lawrence visited the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) to give the school’s commencement address. During that trip, he wandered through the extensive American Art collection there, making a comment to then-Board Director Harold A. Sorgenti that would soon change the programming at the museum. Lawrence pointed out…
White Girls (Profile)
Promises are really just words. Words are relative to the subject matter placed before or after each group of words. All history is creative to a certain degree and subject to the laws of relative truth. But really, I was looking for those so-called promises. I demanded these promises. And I walked away, then thinking…
Once Allies, Mayor Cuts Tony Fischer Loose
Often during political campaigns, some of the most interesting stories occur behind the scenes and are only told long after voters have cast their ballots, if at all. One such incident involving the current mayoral and City Council races in Cincinnati almost fell into that category. For the last few weeks, prominent leaders in the…
Humpday (Review)
Humpday is much more than its playful title might suggest. Writer/director Lynn Shelton’s lo-fi comedy touches on a plethora of weighty topics — sexual boundaries, artistic merit, identity, parenthood, gender and more — in a manner so funny and matter of fact that many viewers will feel as if they stumbled upon someone’s personal home…
Revival of the Fittest
When Josh Dorsey defines his band, the J. Dorsey Blues Revival, the concepts of what it is and is not take on almost equal significance. “It’s our interpretation,” says vocalist/guitarist Dorsey from the patio of the Northside home/rehearsal space he shares with his girlfriend, JDBR keyboardist/ vocalist Kristen Kreft. “We want something that sounds new…
‘Ghost Art’ on Cincinnati’s Public Stairways
When it comes to public art, I appreciate programs like ArtWorks’ ongoing MuralWorks project (and the jobs it creates), but what I really respond to is “ghost art.” By that, I mean public art or architecture that seems almost accidental – residue or remnants of something once present and now gone, or something mysteriously placed…
Hit the Ground … Soaring
Two years ago, young singer/songwriter Nathan Holscher (pictured) released his second album, Even the Hills, a moody, mesmerizing slab of ethereal, transcendent Americana that helped make Holscher — then a relatively new Cincinnati resident after a few years bouncing around the Midwest and South — a much buzzed-about local artist. Holscher has taken the formula…
Tomfoolery
I admit that my restaurant of choice, the Applebee’s in Western Hills, showed very little imagination on my part, but it was going to be fun seeing my friends Jan and Jim again. It had been too long. We had a good waitress. She was young and cheery. Looking at the menu, I asked her…
Lit: Richard Hague
Poet Richard Hague says one of the poems he will read on Final Friday at Ink Tank is a “mock epic about sex (almost), drugs (well, cheap wine), Rock & Roll (definitely) and high school (O, Lordy), titled “Buddy Holly’s Glasses.” Besides Holly’s glasses, Hague’s poems consider “Resisting the SAT,” “Riot” and the handling of…
Grammer’s Embraces Historical Significance
Where in Greater Cincinnati can you find a beer festival one week, indoor bike races the next, weekly wiffleball games and flamboyant, sweaty dance parties in honor of Queen’s Freddie Mercury all in one place? Why, Grammer’s bar of course. These are just a few events that illustrate the spontaneous nature Grammer’s has adopted since…
Jet Aid, ‘Stache Rides and Bobby D
[HOT] Kiss, Make Up, Share Your JetAw, now this is how all musical feuds should end. When the poor little Indie Rock band Coldplay was recently confronted with a major touring problem — the band’s jet wasn’t working properly — U2 reportedly jumped to the band’s assistance immediately and loaned the group its own private…
Taking Woodstock (Review)
Ang Lee’s clumsy adaptation of Elliot Tibers and Tom Monte’s book Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Lift can't decide if it wants to be a comedy, a drama or merely a slice-of-life reflection on a small-town community transformed by a cultural happening in 1969. Demetri Martin steps lightly…
Lit: Life is Fair
The ambitious, freshly minted CS13 Gallery continues to flex its multimedia muscles, hosting a small press/independent vendor fair 6-9 p.m. as part of Final Friday. Curiously dubbed “Life Is Fair,” the event features the gallery’s first publication in what’s to be an ongoing series of “gallery-initiated artist books” — Selections from a Portion, a limited-edition…
Music: Whispering Beard Folk Festival
Tree huggers, city slickers, hippies, beard enthusiasts and plain folk will unite in hordes to attend the Whispering Beard Folk Festival, a three-day music event that showcases local and regional talent in a laidback, rural setting. The tranquil lakeside pastures of Thorn Hill Farm, located in Morning View, Ky., will be pulsating with fresh Folk…
Furry in Fairfield, Broken in Brooklyn
Dear Maija, Seriously. What’s the truth about butt hair? Crack hair, I mean. Is it OK? Must I rid myself of it? Does anyone notice? Is it a thing? — Furry Female in Fairfield I don’t actually have butt hair … that I know of. I guess I could run my finger down my crack…
Events: Germania Society Oktoberfest
It’s that time of year again, in the dwindling days of summer, towards the end of August and beginning of September, when Oktoberfest season hits Cincinnati. Cincinnati’s oldest Oktoberfest is being hosted this weekend by the Germania Society of Cincinnati at Germania Park on Kemper Road in Pleasant Run. The Germania Society promises the most…
Community Council Chaos?
Some Cincinnati officials are saying a controversial move last year to yank a longtime contract from a private company is now hampering the effectiveness of the city’s network of neighborhood councils. A perfect storm combination of leadership infighting, a struggling economy, City Council’s decision to move control of funding in-house and the ensuing bumpy transition…
Adam (Review)
Adam Raki (Hugh Dancy) has Asperger Syndrome, which falls along the autism spectrum of disorders. Those with Aspergers are labeled high-functioning autistics because, while social impairment exists in the form of limited empathy and deficiencies in nonverbal communication, minor adjustments to everyday routines can result in relatively independent social engagement. Of course, in Adam’s case,…
City Online Help, OTR Hotline, John Bateman
[WINNER] CITY ONLINE HELP: The city of Cincinnati has started a Web site with a simple online form so residents can report problems and request services. Among its various uses are letting the city know about street lights needing new bulbs, pot holes, illegal trash dumping, bed bug infestations and more. Mount Auburn residents recently…
‘Avatar’ Sneak Peak a Mixed Bag
The screen fills with a close-up of a military-issued boot marching along. Its owner, a grizzled and scarred commander, bellows, “You ain't in Kansas anymore.” So begins the preview footage of Avatar, the long-awaited and much ballyhooed sci-fi epic from James Cameron. It's the filmmaker's first full-length feature project since Titanic made him the self-proclaimed…
