Zedd
In European parlance, “zed” is the last letter of the alphabet. (In the mid-’70s, I became a fan of a British band known as Fischer-Z. It wasn’t until I heard the name pronounced on a respected import music radio program during my college years that I was schooled to the fact that the band was…
Shooter Jennings
It is not easy being the son of a legend, especially if you’re in the same line of work. That is the case with musician Shooter Jennings, whose daddy was the late Outlaw Country great Waylon Jennings. His mother, Jessi Colter, is also a successful Country artist. But Shooter has been cutting his own distinctive…
Tav Falco
There are Rock legends and then there are Underground Rock legends – musicians who aren’t known well beyond their support base, but whose core followers believe they represent everything good and exciting about the spirit and energy of Rock & Roll. They respect roots, yes, but also love the wildness and danger, the experimentation and…
El Ten Eleven
One of the more intriguing elements of listening to music is just how much genres are defined by the listeners’ interpretation. Americana, Folk, Country and Rockabilly all exist in a hazy shared space, and the border between Punk, Post Punk, Post Hardcore and Indie Rock can grow thin to nonexistent as bands trade stylistic calling…
REVIEW: Mumford & Sons Gentlemen of the Road Troy, Ohio Stopover
The Gentlemen of the Road stopover tour started off as a rather simple concept. Mumford & Sons would invite a few of their music-playing friends to travel with them. They’d stop over for the weekend in towns they’d never been to before, towns they had no reason to visit. They would play two days’ worth…
Film: Cincinnati Film Festival
Looking for a creative alternative to the onslaught of big-budget behemoths that populate local movie mutiplexes? Look no further than the Cincinnati Film Festival, which opens this week and runs through Sept. 15. The festival, now in its fourth year, features 100 films (including some 38 full-length features) to be presented at numerous venues across…
Music: Nude Beach
The members of punchy, sugar-buzzing Rock trio Nude Beach went to high school together in the small Long Island village of Northport, N.Y., playing Punk Rock shows in one of their families’ basements — the seeds of their DIY approach. They moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., and began playing shows constantly, working on projects with other…
Event: Vinoklet Winery Art & Wine Festival
Vinoklet Winery’s 15th annual Art & Wine Festival is a weekend-long celebration of art, entertainment and wine. More than 60 area artists will sell their unique artwork plus there will be live entertainment from local Folk, Soul, Country, Rock, acoustic groups and more. There will also be a grape-stomping competition and wine tastings of eight…
Event: Cincinnati Walk for Farm Animals
Farm Sanctuary’s Walk for Farm Animals Cincinnati will raise vital funds and increase awareness of the group’s mission to combat the abuses of factory farming and bring people together to change hearts and minds about the life of farm animals. The two-mile walk, which goes from Washington Park to Fountain Square and back, begins with…
Art: Peril in Space and Time Semantics Fundraiser
In an effort to be more proactive in their collective future, some of semantics’ stakeholders (artists/arts administrators like Andy Marko and David Dillon, who have been involved in the gallery’s running for almost two decades, and newer additions to the wholly volunteer-run gallery like artist Loraine Wible) have prepared a “scavenger hunt” of standalone curated…
Event: Cincinnati Hispanic Festival
Saturday marks the 20th year of the Cincinnati Hispanic Festival, a two-day celebration ripe with vibrant music, folkloric dance and traditional Hispanic foods aimed at widening the representation of various Hispanic/Latino cultures and communities throughout the area. Brought to you by St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Carthage, this parish festival provides arts and crafts;…
Literary: Natalie Slater
Natalie Slater’s Bake and Destroy: Good Food for Bad Vegans isn’t your traditional cookbook. “I wanted to inspire people to try new things in the kitchen with a no-holds-barred approach,” Slater writes in the introduction. The book is broken up into six chapters with simple titles like “Sweets & Treats” and “Party Hard Entrées.” Slater…
Event: Old West Festival
Live like John Wayne every weekend in September (and the beginning of October) as you travel back to the days of the Wild West. The Old West Festival transforms some rambling acreage of the Ohio countryside into an authentic Dodge City Wild West town dating back to 1878 — so don your best period attire…
Event: MainStrasse Village Oktoberfest
Whether you’re into the polka, the chicken dance, the sauerkraut or the beer, Oktoberfest season in the Zinzinnati area is in full swing. Start the month of festivities off right with the 35th annual MainStrasse Village Oktoberfest for everything German. The opening ceremony and official keg tapping is on Saturday at 12:30 p.m., but the…
Event: Pride Night at Kings Island
Kings Island hosts the 17th Pride Night at Kings Island with rides, entertainment and live performances including RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant and Cher impersonator Chad Michaels. Proceeds from the event will benefit the mission of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Cincinnati to support and promote activities to educate the public on issues of…
Event: Artbeat on Short Vine
A dozen Short Vine locations have joined Artbeat, the first Friday art walk that took baby steps in June with the opening of Tony Dotson’s 71 Gallery. As the event hits its stride, proud papa Dotson is featuring his kids’ cool art in Mass Chaos 2, along with his own childlike paintings featuring grown-up themes.…
Comedy: Brendon Walsh
“I just wanted to have a job that paid me as much as loading trucks all day and let me drink on the job,” Brendon Walsh says of stand-up. His approach to work is simple enough. “More money, less work. I’m a big fan of that. Minimum effort for maximum reward. That’s my whole goal.” Before…
Onstage Other Desert Cities
We romanticize the holidays, but they’re often not happy reunions. That’s certainly the case in Jon Robin Baitz’s 2011 play Other Desert Cities about the Wyeth family’s 2004 Christmastime gathering in Southern California. Conservative parents and adult children not living up to expectations aren’t a good mix, and when the imminent publication of daughter Brooke’s…
Pension Amendment to Appear on November Ballot
Despite unanimous opposition, City Council fulfilled duties dictated by the City Charter and voted to allow a controversial pension amendment to appear on the ballot this November. Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls explained that all council members oppose the amendment, but it’s part of City Council’s ministerial duties to allow ballot initiatives if petitioners gather enough…
Morning News and Stuff
Ohio charter school have largely failed to live up to their promises , according to The Columbus Dispatch . Charter schools were originally pursued by Ohio lawmakers to help find a suitable alternative to the state’s struggling urban public schools. But in the latest school report cards, charter schools performed just as poorly as urban…
Your Weekend To Do List: 8/30-9/2
Local design, marketing and PR firm Peanut Butter & Jelly Co. hosts a Final Friday party tonight to celebrate the opening of its new Over-the-Rhine studio and the launch of a bi-annual PB&J-produced magazine. Guests will check out the fruits of a creative partnership between members of PB&J and Such + Such Designs, including furniture…
Medicaid Expansion Could Help Thousands in Hamilton County
The Medicaid expansion could provide health insurance to more than 42,000 people living in Hamilton County, according to a county-by-county breakdown released on Aug. 28 by the Ohio Poverty Law Center (OPLC). In Hamilton County, OPLC reports nearly 89,000 people are currently uninsured and roughly 155,000 use Medicaid. OPLC found Hamilton County also includes the…
Governor Concerned About Facial Recognition Program
Gov. John Kasich says he wants to slow down Attorney General Mike DeWine’s facial recognition program and work with the Ohio legislature to review if changes are necessary. “I am concerned about the level of government knowledge about everything about us. I have concerns about the NSA. I have concerns about not using the FISA…
Celebrating Cincy’s Music Heritage Tonight (and Beyond)
Tonight in Cincinnati, you can explore the state of local music at any number of area venues featuring local talent. You can also explore Cincinnati's important musical history at events set to celebrate and honor its rich legacy. • At the site of the former Herzog recording studios (811 Race St., Downtown, also home to…
Obamacare to Lower Ohioans’ Health Care Costs
The Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) will lead to an increase in Ohio’s raw health care premiums, but the increase will be more than offset by the law’s tax credits, according to an Aug. 29 study from the RAND Corporation , a reputable think tank. Specifically, health care premiums will rise to an average of $5,312…
WATCH: DAAP Girls’ “Molly” Music Video
The winners of the "Best New Artist" trophy at the most recent Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, DAAP Girls, will celebrate the debut of their new music video tonight at Japp's Annex on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine. The spooky, visually arresting clip is for "Molly," one of the many great tracks off of the band's debut album,…
Stage Door: The King Is Back
If you're a theater fan looking for something to do this weekend, you've probably realized that the Labor Day holiday is not overflowing with options. In fact, many theater companies are gathering their strength as they prepare for shows that open next week. But there is one good choice available: a show about the King.…
Morning News and Stuff
The federal government announced yesterday that same-sex marriages will be recognized for federal tax and Medicare purposes even if the marriage is considered illegal in the state where the couple resides . That means gay Ohioans could get married in a state where it’s legal, such as Massachusetts or California, and have their marriages recognized…
Drug Testing for Welfare Mired in Failure
State Sen. Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) is introducing legislation Thursday that would attach mandatory drug testing to welfare benefits, even though similar policies have proven to be costly with little gain in other states. “It is time that we recognize that many families are trying to survive in drug-induced poverty, and we have an obligation to…
WATCH: Skeleton Hands’ “Oxygen” Music Video
In February of this year, Cincinnati area Electronic/Darkwave/Post Punk twosome Skeleton Hands released its stellar full-length album, Gone (read CityBeat's review here). One of the standouts on the LP is the track "Oxygen," which encapsulates everything compelling about the duo's sound — it's dark, danceable and moody, with synth atmospherics, creeping melodies and vocals, electro-bass…
Brandon Phillips Acts Like a Real Dick to Reporter
Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips is typically all smiles when the cameras are on him, but before last night’s game against the Cardinals — and just outside the frame of a video recorded by a St. Louis-area radio station — Phillips let the expletives fly during a tirade against Enquirer reporter C. Trent Rosecrans, who…
Morning News and Stuff
Republican lawmakers say they won’t hold any votes on the Medicaid expansion until October or later , even though state officials say the expansion must be approved by October to have it in place by 2014. Implementing the expansion at the start of 2014 would coincide with the implementation of other major programs in Obamacare.…
One Direction: This Is Us
The boys in One Direction bring their brand of musical hijinks to Madison Square Garden, capturing the behind the scenes anecdotes of living and playing on the world stage while trying to maintain their integrity. Of course, following on the heels of the VMA reunion performance from *NSYNC, it is obvious that boy bands have…
The Grandmaster
Ip Man (Tony Leung), known as the martial-arts master who trained Bruce Lee, takes center stage in this sumptuously choreographed epic from Wong Kar-wai (In the Mood for Love and My Blueberry Nights). With a reputation built on exquisitely crafted tales of buried romantic longing, Kar-wai has dabbled in action in the past — Ashes…
Getaway
Racing dangerously along the same well-worn paths of the BMW online series The Hire with Clive Owen as the mysterious no-name Driver and Jason Statham’s The Transporter franchise, Academy Award nominee and seeming man-about-the-movies Ethan Hawke (recently seen in The Purge and Before Midnight — how’s that for contrast?) straps himself behind the wheel of…
Closed Circuit
Screenwriter Steven Knight has the narrative nose of an investigative journalist. His screenplays for films like Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises took audiences down dark alleyways complete with noirish thrills and gritty kink that tapped into our desire for raw voyeuristic experiences beyond the pale, but there was always the gnawing sense that these…
The Artist and The Model
Director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque and Chico & Rita) teams up with co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière (The Unbearable Lightness of Being and 1990’s Cyrano de Bergerac) for the story of an elderly sculptor (Jean Rochefort) living in the relative safety of the south of France with his wife (Claudia Cardinale), content to pass through his latter…
I Just Can’t Get Enough…VMAs
Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards melted the face off the Internet, so if you’re still trying to form an opinion and sift through gif reactions, or you’re one of those people pretending you don’t know what the VMAs are — the Moonman has been around since 1983 and the VMAs have been pooping out pseudo-controversy…
See Why?, Get Discount MidPoint Tickets Friday
The grand finale of the season-long MidPoint Indie Summer concert series is Friday on Fountain Square . It’s always a bittersweet moment — the free series ends for this summer, but that only means that the MidPoint Music Festival is less than one month away. The MidPoint Indie Summer series concludes just in time to…
King Records’ 70th Birthday Festivities Begin
This September marks the 70th anniversary of the launch of King Records , the Cincinnati-based label that, for 30 years, released some revolutionary records in a variety of genres, including titles from James Brown, The Stanley Brothers, Hank Ballard, Tiny Bradshaw and Wynonie Harris. Founded by Cincinnatian Syd Nathan (who was posthumously inducted into the…
Banded Together
Shiny and the Spoon principals Amber Nash and Jordan Neff have put their wedding plans on hold. Not the wedding itself, which is still slated for next June, just the preparation part of the event. “(The plans have) been put on the back burner a little bit until we get the album out,” Neff says…
The New FXX Features Young Adult Fare
Starting Monday, FX spawns a new young adult network, dubbed FXX. FX’s hit comedies It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season Premiere 10 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4) and The League (Season Premiere 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4) will make the jump to the new network along with the nightly talk show Totally Biased with W. Kamau…
Struggling to Maintain All that is ‘Still Mine’
It is surprising to consider that in recent years we have seen several examples of elderly men (think Clint Eastwood and Michael Caine) shrugging off age and infirmity to face off against those who would prey on the weak. The advanced age of their characters (and the relative ages of the actors in question) recall,…
Fiona Maazel’s Latest Novel Follows a Cult in Cincinnati
Compelling, contemplative and laugh-out-loud funny, Fiona Maazel’s latest novel, Woke Up Lonely, is a sprawling story of a wildly popular cult, the Helix, which promises a cure for loneliness. Desperate to be reunited with his ex-wife and daughter, cult leader Thurlow Dan takes four people hostage at his Cincinnati headquarters and soon things unravel into…
Morning News and Stuff
Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel was involved in two car crashes and reported neither , and one of the crashes may have violated federal campaign finance law. During a March accident, Mandel, a Republican, was riding in a vehicle owned by his 2012 U.S. Senate campaign months after he lost to Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown. Federal…
Failing Grades
Three years after basking in the national spotlight for transforming from a failing inner-city school to a model of academic excellence, Robert A. Taft Information Technology High School is showing signs of relapsing. Local education officials across Ohio are digesting new state-issued “report cards” that, for the first time, rate public schools and school districts…
ACLU Criticizes State’s Facial Recognition Program
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio on Aug. 26 asked Attorney General Mike DeWine to shut down a facial recognition program used by law enforcement until state officials verify and develop safety protocols that protect Ohioans’ rights to privacy. DeWine formally announced the program’s existence in a press conference earlier that day. It allows…
Covering Home
B aseball announcers have unique relationships with fans of the game. Among baseball’s many pleasures is its leisurely pace, which gives announcers plenty of time for small talk — talk that often leads to deep, sometimes perversely intimate relationships with those who listen to them. Dedicated fans usually spend at least three hours a day watching…
National Conservative Groups Attack State Energy Standards
State Sen. Bill Seitz says he’s working on a bill that would cap how much utilities can spend on energy efficiency programs and eliminate requirements for in-state wind and solar power. But the proposal isn’t completely unique to Ohio, which is just one of many states in which national conservative groups are working to weaken…
Port Authority to Increase Parking Enforcement Under Lease
The Greater Cincinnati Port Authority on Aug. 23 acknowledged that it will increase enforcement when it takes over Cincinnati’s parking meters. But the quasi-public development agency says its goal is to encourage people to pay up, not raise revenues that will make the parking lease more profitable for the Port Authority and the private operators…
Government Cuts Hurt Ohio’s Economic Recovery
Over the weekend, The Columbus Dispatch ran a story asking if cutting government hurts the economy and job creation. Really, the only answer to that question is a resounding, “Duh.” Although framed as revelatory, the article goes into an old subject. Over the past year, progressive think tanks have been criticizing all levels of government…
Guide to Bellevue, Covington, Newport, Florence and Nearby NKY
Take the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (the prototype for the Brooklyn Bridge) across the Ohio River for a heavy dose of German heritage, good bourbon and family-friendly entertainment. BELLEVUE Ei8ht Ball Brewing Photo: Taylor Stanley With a population of less than 6,000, this quaint little sister of Covington and Newport has a main drag…
In Harm’s Way
A ndrea Metil had never heard of Columbus resident Shasta Pickens before this July, and she certainly had no idea an Ohio Supreme Court case in which Pickens was involved would change her life. In fact, Pickens and Metil share quite a few similarities, although they’ve never met. So, too, does Alisha Waters Mathis of…
Literary: Geoffrey Girard
How’s this for a creepy, head-spinning premise: Geoffrey Girard’s latest book, Cain’s Blood, opens as 15-year-old Jeff Jacobson is informed that his biological father is really Jeffrey Dahmer, the notorious serial killer who heinously murdered 17 people from 1978 to 1991. It seems Jacobson was concocted entirely from Dahmer’s DNA as part of a top-secret…
Event: Rally to Improve Birth on Labor Day
Mothers, fathers, children, healthcare providers, birth professionals and anyone else who supports evidence-based maternity care are invited to rally on Labor Day to call attention to the healthcare crisis surrounding birth in America. Evidence-based maternity care means providing birth practices shown by the most current medical evidence to be the most beneficial to mothers and…
Event: Riverfest
Come down early and claim your patch of grass, concrete or blanket (blankets can be placed to hold seats after 6 a.m. on Saturday) as the 37th P&G Riverfest and WEBN/Cincinnati Bell fireworks show and Labor Day celebration officially signals the end of summer. Family-friendly performers of all kinds are set to appear at entertainment…
Cincinnati vs. the World 08.28.2013
A woman who was impregnated by rape at age 14 is suing the state of Massachusetts after being court-ordered to share parental visitation rights with her convicted attacker. WORLD -2 Republican Colorado Sen. Vicki Marble didn’t contribute much to the state’s Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force meeting when she linked poverty and poor health…
Event: Renaissance Festival
Whether you fancy yourself royalty, the court jester or just an average Joe, the lords and ladies of the Renaissance Festival summon all of Ohio to take part in their annual festivities in celebration of jousting, knighthood and the biggest turkey legs you’ve ever seen. Step back in time to a 30-acre, 16th-century village and…
If it Exists in Cincinnati, ArtWorks Will Paint it
I have this recurring dream in which I go out for a walk or drive in Cincinnati and every place I go and everything I use to get there, from my feet to a car or bus, has been decorated or designed by ArtWorks. For some time now, I’ve been trying to figure out the…
Worst Week Ever!: Aug. 21-26
WEDNESDAY AUG. 21 Very few people know what figures of speech literally meant before inarticulate people started using them instead of real sentences. An example of this occurred today when a spokesman for Gov. John Kasich used the phrase “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” to call state Democrats out for…
Sports: AVP Beach Volleyball
The AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, the longest running professional beach volleyball tour in the world, features the top American mens and womens volleyball players including Olympic medal winners such as Kerri Walsh Jennings, April Ross, Todd Rogers, Phil Dalhausser and more. Watch them compete when the tour comes to the Lindner Family Tennis Center…
#Free? #At Last?
We are about to embark upon the march toward our annually asked rhetorical question, one that indeed does have an answer and it’s lodged now within the souls of black folks when it was once an answer — due to the circumstances of institutionalized racism and the gimmicks of white supremacy — this nation’s whites…
Humans’ Newest Enemy: Sinkholes
Sinkholes are terrifying. People, homes, hotels, entire parts of Louisiana bayous — all of them keep getting swallowed up by giant ground vacuums. You don’t know when it’s going to happen. You don’t know where it’s going to happen. The earth just gives way without warning and sucks people in, like a golem opening his…
Event: Final Friday 8/30
There are several can’t-miss events in Over-the-Rhine this Final Friday. First, stop by Smartfish Studio & Sustainable Supply’s event “Hello Goodbye” as the boutique evolves into Rock Paper Scissors, a new store featuring sustainable art supplies, workshops, music releases and merchandise from Cincinnati bands. Smartfish owner Alisha Budkie joins forces with Lindsey Nehls and Adam…
Matthew Cranert (Profile)
M atthew Cranert can’t sit still. He’s got a million menus in his head and he wants to write them all down. The new executive chef at Cumin, Cranert also holds the same position at sister restaurant M, both in Hyde Park. Between running two kitchens, he’s found his Zen in balancing the high-end dining…
Mumford & Sons
Troy, Ohio is going to be invaded by banjo-toting, tambourine-shaking, tight pants- and flowy dress-wearing hippie folksters. Some of us are more excited than others. The onslaught is due entirely to Mumford & Sons, part of our latest British Invasion. In one year, between 2010-2011, they went from packed 500-person capacity rooms (like Beachland Ballroom…
Cincinnati King
E arlier this year, dozens of volunteers roamed Cincinnati, haunting record stores, clubs and coffee shops. The group was seeking stories about King Records, the legendary record label that made its home here in the Queen City. Months of investigation and writing has finally culminated in a new piece of documentary theater premiering as a…
Why?
Yoni Wolf, frontman for Indie Folk pranksters Why?, has never hesitated to indulge his rather fertile imagination. But his band’s latest project, an EP titled Golden Ticket (to be released Sept. 17 via Joyful Noise Records), takes things to a whole new level: It will supposedly feature seven “theme songs” inspired by the lives of…
Whole Foods Vinyl, Thicke Thief and Cloning Lennon
HOT: Whole Foods Party Platters As sales of vinyl albums, against all odds, continue to increase, specialty “natural foods” store Whole Foods is testing the waters to see if their customers would like to buy, say, a 12-inch of Bob Marley’s Legend to take home with their healthy edibles. The chain, according to Time, is…
