Cincinnati vs. The World 09.03.2014
Construction of GE’s new Global Operations Center at The Banks will begin later this month and continue through 2016. The $90 million facility is slated to bring more than 2,000 jobs to the area. CINCINNATI +2 The Conference Board, a corporate research organization, reports that scores of professions (including librarians, occupational therapists and plant operators)…
Uphill Battle
W ith the fallout from last month’s knock-down, drag-out fight between Republican Hamilton County Commissioners and the city over funds to fix Music Hall and Union Terminal still floating in the air, Democrats have sensed an opportunity to unseat Commissioner Chris Monzel in the upcoming November election. But there’s a catch. The Democrats’ candidate, Sean…
Event: Crafts + Drafts
CityBeat hosts Crafts + Drafts on Saturday, an exhibition and sale of handmade alternative crafts and arts. The free event (based on our sister paper Washington City Paper’s Crafty Bastards DC craft show) will also offer a one-day pop-up sale from local boutiques like Sloane and Matt Joy vintage; live music from local bands performing…
Event: Old West Festival
Strap on your boots, slap on your chaps and dust off your hats: a little piece of rural Ohio is rolling back in time with the seventh annual Old West Fest. Some good old country land east of Cincinnati will be transformed for a little more than a month into an authentic 1878-style Dodge City…
Event: Russian Fest
Stuffed cabbage, piroshkis, nesting dolls — just a few of the cultural classics you’ll find at Russian Fest this Saturday at the St. George Russian Orthodox Church. The festival hosts live music as well as traditional Russian folk dancing. Between performances, be sure to check out the arts and crafts booths, which will showcase an…
Music: Ohio River Throwdown
Showcasing many of the leading lights of the modern Americana movement, the Ohio River Throwdown returns this year for its second annual event. Playing on three stages at Riverbend Music Center, the festival’s organizers have once again compiled an excellent lineup that spotlights artists who have taken the blueprints of a variety of Roots music…
Event: Cincinnati Celtic Festival
Grab your kilt and a Friendly Son of Saint Patrick for three days of Celtic celebration at Washington Park. The weekend includes Celtic food (shepherd’s pie, corned beef sandwiches, potato pancakes), Highland games (caber toss, archery, Celtic knot crafts, Gaelic football), Celtic entertainment (the McGing Irish Dancers, Enter the Haggis, Roger Drawdy) and more. 6-10…
Event: Cincinnati ComiCon
The aim of Cincinnati ComiCon is to produce a world-class comic book convention in Cincinnati that’s committed to putting the fans first. Guests include artists like Kelley Jones (Batman/Sandman/Dark Horse), Ryan Browne (God Hates Astronauts), Katie Cook (DC/Marvel/Star Wars), founder Tony Moore (The Walking Dead) and more. There will also be exhibitors, an artist alley…
Event: MainStrasse Village Oktoberfest
Looking for a way to kick-off fall? Head over to MainStrasse Village in Covington for the 36th annual Oktoberfest, a cultural experience that extends more than six city blocks. Experience the rich German heritage of the Tristate with food, arts and crafts and a German biergarten in Goebel Park. For the music lovers, there will…
Art: Michael Stillion Ghost in the Machine at the Phyllis Weston Gallery
Michael Stillion, artist, Contemporary Arts Center preparator and curator of the center’s Shall I tell you the secret of the whole world? (a beautiful exhibition that sets the case for painting as a viable medium for contemporary artists, on view until Sept. 14) will have a solo exhibition of his paintings, drawings, collages and sculpture…
Event: Harvest Home Fair
More than 150 years ago, a farmer held a fair in Green Township to celebrate his harvest. Now, that same fair is not only still alive but the “biggest little fair in Ohio.” Spanning four days, the Harvest Home Fair is back to revel in another successful growing season and the transition to fall. The…
Lit: Don Heinrich Tolzmann
Local author Don Heinrich Tolzmann has made it his mission to spread Germany’s rich history to Cincinnati and beyond for more than three decades. One of Tolzmann’s many books on the subject is Christian Moerlein: The Man and His Brewery, which looks at the German immigrant who helped put this city on the beer-making map…
Comedy: Mike Vecchione
Fresh from a run on this past summer’s Last Comic Standing, Mike Vecchione is back on the road. Telling jokes on national TV for a few weeks allowed more people to become familiar with his comedy, which engages audiences with some self-deprecating humor. “Then I can get into what I want to talk about,” he…
Music: The Piano Guys
For one night only, Internet sensation The Piano Guys take over the Aronoff Center’s Procter & Gamble Hall with the band’s innovative blend of Classical and Pop music. (Maybe you saw their take — five guys, one piano — on One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” on YouTube?) 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. $25-$125. 650 Walnut St., Downtown,…
Onstage: Hands On a Hardbody
Hand it to Ensemble Theatre for kicking off its 2014-2015 season with the regional premiere of a recent Broadway musical. Hands on a Hardbody is about 10 hard-luck Texans vying for a brand-new pick-up truck — by being the last contender to keep at least one hand on it. Based on a true story (the…
Music: Legendary Shack Shakers
Originally based out of Paducah, Ky., the wild and woolly band of hillbilly music-twisting punkers is moving forward as its 20th anniversary looms. In the last few years, the Legendary Shack Shakers’ ruckus has been lifted by TV shows such as True Blood and Swamp Loggers, which have used the band’s songs on their soundtracks.…
Music: Grouplove
If you do a Google search for Grouplove, you may get a few hits that aren’t necessarily what you’re looking for (or it may be right up your three-laned alley; I don’t know you), but at least a few should take you to information about the L.A.-based Indie Rock/Electro Pop quintet, whose last album, 2013’s…
Music: Ellis Paul
Ellis Paul is a musician who has hung in there over the years despite the ups and downs of the music business. In a classic case of “what goes around comes around,” Paul and his nearly 20 albums have now found themselves in the middle of the current Folk music revival. Inspired by Folk music…
Music: The Pack A.D.
Four scores (or albums, if you will) and seven years ago, our insane cousins to the north (Canada geographically and Vancouver more specifically) brought forth on this continent a new band, a guitar/drum duo dubbed The Pack A.D., sporting the adrenalized power of an unmanned locomotive with the throttle set to “bat out of hell.” …
Morning News and Stuff
So let's get to what's happened in the past three days in the real world while we were all busy watching fireworks and drinking beers, shall we? The Great Recession dropped incomes in 111 of 120 communities in the Greater Cincinnati area, according to a report today by The Cincinnati Enquirer. The recession lasted from…
Changes Coming for ReelAbilities Film Festival
There is a giant leap being planned for one of Cincinnati's film festivals — one that could make it the city's pre-eminent such event and an impactful cultural occurrence. The Cincinnati ReelAbilities Film Festival, which presents films that explore the lives of people with disabilities, will be announcing its 2015 schedule at an event next…
Rhinegeist Saber Tooth Release Party
Rhinegeist's rarity Imperial IPA Saber Tooth is only let out of its cage twice a year — and one of those times is Saturday, Aug. 30. Saturday's launch party starts at noon and it is the only day you'll be able to fill crowlers (Rhinegeist's can-growlers) with Saber Tooth. If you miss the party, you…
Rhinegeist Saber Tooth Release Party
Rhinegeist's rarity Imperial IPA Saber Tooth is only let out of its cage twice a year — and one of those times is Saturday, Aug. 30. Saturday's launch party starts at noon and it is the only day you'll be able to fill crowlers (Rhinegeist's can-growlers) with Saber Tooth. If you miss the party, you miss…
MidPoint Music Festival Ticket Deal Ends Tuesday
Three-day “All Music Access” tickets for the 13th annual MidPoint Music Festival remain one of the best music fest deals in the country. But if you wait until after Monday to get yours, you’ll have to pay a little more. On Tuesday, prices for the three-day passes will increase from $69 to $79. It’ll still…
Morning News and Stuff
There is so much happening today and I'm going to tell you about all most of it. The board of the Cincinnati Museum Center yesterday voted to support county commissioners’ plan to fund renovations of historic Union Terminal, which houses the museum. Officials for the Museum Center originally criticized the plan, which replaced an earlier…
Bavarian-Style Soft Pretzel Bakery to Open 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 says in…
Seeing Double
As Ewan McGregor’s stand-in, I was not an actor in Miles Ahead — Don Cheadle’s locally filmed Miles Davis film — but more of a celebrity-shaped prop used only when the camera was not rolling. I’m just a random Cincinnatian that was given a unique opportunity. This article is not some cloak and dagger breach…
Morning News and Stuff
This week is almost over, and that's a great thing. I haven't had my customary coffee and donut yet this morning, so let's do this news so I can get to that. Security footage from the Beavercreek Walmart where police shot John Crawford III shows that Crawford was not acting violently, an attorney for his…
Frank
Such a curious predicament to be in for an indie filmmaker. You cast an emerging performer, with equally potent mixes of grace and charisma, as an underground Rock god who undoubtedly would be one beautiful tantrum away from catapulting from the club scene to arena rock status. But the thing is, this character — let’s…
As Above, So Below
The filmmaking team of John Erick Dowdle (director of Quarantine and Devil) and Drew Dowdle (producer and co-screenwriter on Quarantine, executive producer of Devil) takes us into the Parisian catacombs where a dark city of the dead rules the underground. Through the usual highly suspect human intervention, the dead seek to expand their realm. (Opens…
The November Man
Pierce Brosnan has transitioned quite nicely post-Bond, but he apparently has been recomissioned for active duty in The November Man as an ex-CIA agent brought in to protect an asset (Olga Kurylenko), which places him in direct conflict with a former protégé (Luke Bracey), intent on dispatching his mentor and assuming the top spot. Brosnan…
Ten of Cincinnati’s best outdoor public fountains
I f you tell someone Cincinnati’s identity is connected to water, they’ll probably assume you’re talking about the Ohio River. Yes, there is that. But it’s also about the role of outdoor public fountains in the city’s history and recent resurgence. The bronze Tyler Davidson Fountain (Fountain Square, Fifth and Vine streets, Downtown) — also…
Bars and Restaurants with Riverfest Views
Instead of hanging out on the riverfront all day, claiming a prime viewing spot with a lawn chair, make a reservation at one of these river-view restaurants for dining deals with great views of the 9:05 p.m. WEBN Rivefest fireworks. Ohio The Celestial: A four-star, four-course, prix-fixe meal before the show. 5:30-6 p.m. seating. $129.…
A Tale of Two Cities (Part II)
Part Two: Bespoke Solutions As the days turn a way from Michael Brown’s funeral, thus finally laying to rest his thrice-autopsied young body, Ferguson, Missouri, is now — more than ever — ripe and ready for the change that can carry this predominantly black and woefully underemployed community forever forward. We Cincinnatians know this because…
FXX Revisits Springfield’s First Family
It’s hard to imagine a time when The Simpsons, the longest-running scripted show in television history, was controversial. A lot has changed since the yellow family from Springfield first appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987. Working-class family comedies, adult-oriented animated shows and satire are all a part of today’s TV landscape, and The…
Are Billboards Right for Showing Artwork?
Unlike other exhibitions, the Cincinnati Art Museum isn’t using billboard advertisements to lure visitors to come see its current Big Pictures photography show. That’s because Big Pictures occurs on billboards, not in a gallery at the museum’s brick-and-mortar Eden Park site. Every six weeks, two different contemporary photographers display their digitally repurposed or reformatted work…
MidPoint Indie Summer Finale with Islands and More
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…
Morning News and Stuff
Morning y'all! After a rough start (a bit more on that later), I'm here and ready to give you the news. Two prosecutors from Hamilton County will lead the state’s investigation into the police shooting death of John Crawford III, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced yesterday. Stacey DeGraffenreid and Mark Piepermeierand were appointed by…
High as the Horses Bridles
For thousands of years, a long and ignominious parade of prophets, preachers, mystics, cult leaders and charlatans have been predicting an apocalypse and the beginning of a new world for the chosen. The most famous apocalyptic prophesy was written in the first century in the Bible’s New Testament’s Book of Revelation. It’s the most controversial…
The Will Rogers Follies (Review)
Critic's Pick The Will Rogers Follies closes the first Cincinnati Landmark Productions (CLP) Summer Classics Season held at the Covedale Center for the Performing Arts rather than in their former Showboat Majestic river home. Next year, the summer series will take place at Landmark Production’s new Warsaw Federal Incline Theater. With most theaters struggling to…
Fourth of July Creek
First-time novelist Smith Henderson’s Fourth of July Creek is the story of a social worker named Pete Snow who is caught in the web of a world gone wrong. Snow is a young, complex, deeply compassionate man crisscrossing Montana in 1980’s pre-Reagan America, trying to rescue an endless log of lost and troubled children, including…
Rollins Shows Everyone How to ACTUALLY Apologize
HOT Rollins Reconsiders KISS’s Gene Simmons caused some backlash recently for telling an interviewer that depressed people should just kill themselves. Though published before Robin Williams apparently did just that, the superstar comedian’s death raised sensitivity levels surrounding Simmons’ comments. Legendary Punk singer Henry Rollins put himself in similar hot water for comments made directly…
The Blasters
Family in general and brothers in particular can screw up a band like walnuts in lime Jell-O. The Kinks. The Black Crowes. Oasis. The roll call of groups undone by power struggles that began when someone got more Christmas presents than someone else is nearly endless. The Blasters could qualify in that spotty sweepstakes, at…
Grace & Tony with Misty Mountain String Band
Aunt Maudie’s at 1207 Main St., in Over-the-Rhine is remembered — beloved, really — for attracting a youthful, raised-on-Rock audience to live traditional Bluegrass in the 1970s. It helped set the stage for Americana’s current popularity in Cincinnati. While Aunt Maudie’s is long gone (the site is now the home of the Cincy By the…
Slightly Stoopid with Zach Deputy
As interest in Reggae-flavored Punk rose exponentially in the mid-’90s, Sublime’s Brad Nowell went out on a sturdy limb and founded Skunk Records in order to find and nurture bands that mined a similarly groovy vein. One of Nowell’s signings was Slightly Stoopid, a band of Ocean Beach, Calif., high school dudes that hybridized Punk,…
‘Life of Crime’ Pays the Highest Tribute to Elmore Leonard
For the past five years or so, I’ve been caught up in a crime fiction haze. Leading up to this seminal moment, I had been wandering the dark aisles of bookstores, trolling for the differences between “thrillers” and “crime fiction,” coming to realize that those labels had little meaning when it came to the actual…
Mad Anthony Doesn’t Wane
Greater Cincinnati indie label Phratry Records (phratryrecords.com) turns 10 years old this month, and to celebrate the label is doing what it does best — releasing some great music from some of the area’s finest Rock, Post Punk and Punk acts encased in some dazzling packaging. (A documentary film about the label is also in…
Kishi Bashi with The Ridges
Vi rginia native Kishi Bashi (aka Kaoru Ishibashi) is an ace violinist who’s lent his talents to Regina Spektor, of Montreal and Sondre Lerche. He’s also a founding member of Electro Pop outfit Jupiter One, but more recently he has stepped out as a solo artist. Kishi Bashi’s full-length debut, 151a — which he arranged,…
From Brazil With Love
Even the briefest conversation with Phil DeGreg will naturally get around to his storied Jazz career, which stretches back to the early ’80s. And DeGreg can dazzle with his amazing perspective on Jazz as a musical/cultural phenomenon, its roots, birth and evolution. Neither comes as a surprise, given his depth and longevity as a performer:…
Worst Week Ever!: Aug. 20-26
Archdiocese: Ice Bucket Challenge Can Sit on a Tack The Internet is a wonderful place, full of important information and videos of people tripping over things in stores. It’s also a useful tool for starting viral trends, most of which don’t help anyone (selfies) but some that do (video of cops acting like dicks). The…
Dreaming Big
I t’s been a long journey for 18-year-old Herya Avila from where she was born in Mexico to the stage at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center she shared Aug. 20 with five other young immigrants striving to make better lives in Greater Cincinnati. She and her peers were at the Freedom Center as part…
