Ellison — Say Goodnight, Sleep Alone (Carbon Copy Media)
Ellison — Say Goodnight, Sleep Alone Ellison, named after a street in Hyde Park, is more than another green street sign with a name on it. The Cincinnati band comprises four gentlemen who are making music that is often compared to bands like Dashboard Confessional. Their music is usually categorized as Emo, but Ellison…
Film: Man of Mystery
Woodrow J. Hinton Edward Norton looks to rebuild a stalled career with The Illusionist. The Illusionist sets an eerie, mood-altering tone right out of the gate. A man, head bowed, sits in a wooden chair on an empty theater stage as a rapt audience awaits his next move. A voice cuts the tension with…
Here Lies Vera
Notes: This song pays tribute to Ms. Vera Smith who, after surviving Hurricane Katrina, met a tragic fate as she was killed by a car on her way to the store. The body of this proud woman who walked the streets of the Garden District lay uncovered for days by the curb before her neighbors…
Albert Cummings — Working Man (Blind Pig)
Albert Cummings — Working Man How nice it is to hear a guy really strangle a guitar! When bluesman Albert Cummings grabs the guitar neck he wrenches and wrangles some serious noise out of the thing. His singing is a big, booming, raspy shout and his rhythm section is solid as a mountain, but…
Cover Story: Young Influentials Take Root in Cincinnati
Matt Borgerding Bill Donabedian One of the cornerstones of CityBeat's annual State of the Arts issue has been our ranking of the most influential people in Cincinnati arts, which we've presented in one form or another since 1997. Although an entirely subjective undertaking by our arts editors and writers, the lists have served as…
Blowoff — Blowoff (Full Frequency)
Blowoff — Blowoff Bob Mould has been defying musical pigeonholes for the past two decades, from the revolutionary Alt.Rock of Hüsker Dü to the blistering Power Pop of Sugar to his genre-bending solo career. Considering Mould's recent detour into Electronica (on his solo album Body of Song and producing/remixing under the nom de plume…
Locals Only: : Eclectic Company
Jason Bechtel The Kelly Evans Trio INTERVIEW BY HANNAH ROBERTS Kelly Evans is the life force, a mommy-sister, the hippie who touts aural energy and raw cadence. She´s deep, a communicator. Chris Walker is no-nonsense — on music, on life, on drink orders — no surprise that he´s the businessman of the group. He´s…
Onstage: Now Playing
Joan Marcus The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee opens at the Aronoff on Nov. 14 as part of Broadway in Cincinnati's fall season. If musical theater is your thing, you've got a busy fall ahead of you. If you're looking for plays, you have to be a bit choosier, but there's still plenty…
News: It Takes an Eco-Village
Jared M. Holder Approaching environmental responsibility as a kind of life puzzle, Jim Schenk has helped organize Cincinnati's only eco-village in Price Hill. At the top of Price Hill, off a very western stretch of West Eighth Street, runs a half-mile, no-outlet street, Enright Avenue, the unlikely site of Cincinnati's only eco-village. Alternative energy…
Events: A Night of Winners
Danny Nader Ensemble Theatre's D. Lynn Meyers was inducted into the CEA Hall of Fame by the Playhouse's Ed Stern, a co-founder with Meyers of the League of Cincinnati Theatres. More than 400 theater fans crowded into CCM's Corbett Auditorium Aug. 25 for the 10th annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, which celebrated theater achievements over…
Music: Thank You For Smoking
Smoking Popes Smoking Popes singer/guitarist Josh Caterer (second from right) split the band up when he felt his faith and the band's music could not co-exist. If a band's greatness can be measured by the celebrity of those who sing their praises, the Smoking Popes were truly one of the great contemporary Pop/Punk groups…
Tapestry: Music, Slow Learners and Evil Forces
Matt Borgerding Aida Bewley of Westwood, a 2001 New Orleans transplant, stands vigil in front of City Hall on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It's not quite the Vote for Change Tour in 2004 — when Rock stars like Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and others toured to help promote Sen. John Kerry's presidential…
Big Shots
This weekend two Cincinnati-area acts with high-profile national releases will give their local fans hometown CD release parties. · Friday at the Southgate House, Heartless Bastards celebrate All This Time, the follow-up to their acclaimed debut Stairs and Elevators. The band's sophomore effort came out in early August, again on Fat Possum Records, and it…
News to Use
Help the People Declare Peace The Peace Committee of the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center seeks help with the Declaration of Peace, a nationwide series of protests and other events the week of Sept. 21. To donate materials for banners, food and camping equipment for a tent city and copying or printing for leaflets, contact…
Reds Might Be Ready for an Insider to Join the Radio Booth
Jerry Dowling The problem with Steve Stewart on the Reds radio broadcasts touched not at all on his competence or dignity. Stewart is a very pleasant listen who obviously works hard to be informative and manages to sound more like a professional broadcaster than some chirpy, fact-filled dork who fixed himself on baseball from…
Onstage: A Dream of a Show
Al Seib Quidam's Philippa Hayball extends while suspended by a silk banner. As a theater critic, I see a lot of amazing things onstage, but Cirque du Soleil's Quidam was a new experience for me. Combining circus conventions, acrobatics, music and a strong sense of theatricality, Quidam is a hybrid that moves into the…
Cover Story: Fall Arts Calendar
Art Galleries & Exhibits 1305 GALLERY 1305 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-374-5618 Appearances watercolors by Carson Wassermann (through Sept. 24) ART BEYOND BOUNDARIES 35 E. Seventh St., Downtown, 513-241-2600 A Lighter Side: A Visual Art Exhibition Featuring the Artistic Talent of Local Artists with Disabilities (through Oct. 14) ARTS CONSORTIUM Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western Ave.,…
News: WAIF Votes on Its Future
Jim Fugett WAIF (88.3 FM) has had a rough year in 2006, and the big question for members going into their annual meeting Sept. 13 is simple: Should the current board of trustees remain, or is it time for new leadership? At least five former members of the community radio station won't be present…
Diner: State of Your Plate
Laura Smith A pool of black ink ended abruptly against the arc of the white canvas, creating a stark study in contrast. In the center, the focal point of the piece floated like a small, lost ship in the opaque sea. The pale white legs of its passengers dangled dangerously over the sides, beckoning…
Manifest Gallery
It should come as no surprise that the fall season is chock-full of fascinating art and artists — and you can see it right here in Cincinnati. Of course, there will be much more than I can include here as summer fades to fall, but I've included just a few sneak peeks. MANIFEST GALLERY…
Throw me a Boo!
HOT The New "Boo!" Bloggers and message-boarders type, sports fans throw trash, Punks used to spit. But in the UK today it seems the best way to let an entertainer know how you feel is by throwing bottles. At last weekend's Reading Festival, nearly every other band was greeted with a barrage of bottles during…
Living Out Loud: : Into His Eyes
I walked across Elm towards the union office of Local 48 on Eighth Street. I'd gotten tired of waiting in the reception area of CityBeat for an appointment I'd made. I was antsy and thought maybe I'd stretch out and catch someone in the union office. The issues we were dealing with in Local 48…
Cover Story: State of the Arts – Branching Out
Geoff Raker State Of The Arts – Working Globally, Living Locally Cincinnati drenches itself with doubt, doesn't it? One day we shake up the international art world with a new downtown building, and another day we humiliate ourselves with a censorship trial. We love our town. We hate it. It's full of great things.…
Can’t Get Me; Woe Is You
I lived in Cincinnati last year for a little while before my employer transferred me to L.A. We have a great alternative paper out here, LA Weekly, but I got hooked on CityBeat and still follow it on the web. I found Larry Gross' "Reefer Madness" column interesting but not very surprising (issue of Aug.…
Recurring Daymare
First Day of School: Kindergarten — I grip my mother's hand tightly as we enter the large, open classroom. The smell of paste and crayons is oppressive. My anxiety is running high. Anxiety about change. About learning. About napping in a sitting position. I belch a hot, sour acid that tastes of raspberry red, lemon…
Shake It: New Moves
Just as leaf colors are preparing to change, compelling shifts and displays of diversity are in store for the upcoming local dance scene this fall. Here are some highlights … The leaves of CINCINNATI BALLET's most modern moments drift in with their annual mixed-rep program, New Works (Sept. 28-Oct. 8), which promises to be…
Onstage: Sounds of the Season
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Itzhak Perlman The summer heat might still be lingering, but the fall Classical music season is already providing a tang in the air. As always, the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops orchestras are leading the procession with some spectacular programs to close out the calendar year and begin their 2006-07 seasons at…
Bicycling Bar to Bar
This time last summer I was struggling to pedal over mountain passes. I still often reflect on what I learned bicycling across the country. One observation was that guys are experts, whether they know what they're talking about or not. Sit down at a local bar and ask directions, and the entire line of stools…
Cover Story: The Art of Urban Pioneering
Stephen Novotni Catherine Logsdon in the ruh arts center. The Covington Artisans' Enterprise Center doesn't look like much today. It's a dingy, empty commercial building just off Madison Avenue in Covington's downtown. Looking at it, you can imagine a tumbleweed blowing by — but within just a half block you'll find artist spaces, emerging…
Critics’ Pick: Gajah Wong
Jared M. Holder Scene: Past a hand-carved wooden rocking horse and a dragon's head fountain, a big teak table awaits you beneath an umbrella of shady trees at Northside's new outdoor spot.After dark, every table is lit with a kerosene lantern, and the courtyard glows beneath festive strings of lights. A steady stream of…
Art: A Certain Chimera
A small exhibition of turn-of-the-century photography currently hangs upstairs at the Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM). The images included in the exhibition, Pictorialist Photographs, say much about the aesthetic ideals of that time period. All are black and white, of course, made with standard early photographic techniques such as the photogravure. The images might seem…
News: Fake Followers
Sean Hughes/photopresse.com The manner in which addresses were altered in anti-gay referendum petitions was so thorough that it must have been deliberate, according to Gary Wright of Citizens to Restore Fairness, a group working for equality. A long political battle over Cincinnati's anti-discrimination law for gays and lesbians recently took an unusual turn when…
Film: Tower of a Man
Lion's Gate Films Beth Orton (left) and Jarvis Cocker are but two of the many musicians who pay tribute to Leonard Cohen in I'm Your Man. When Paste magazine did its recent list of the 100 Greatest Living Songwriters, Leonard Cohen finished sixth. He was ahead of such far more established and famous chart-toppers…
Upcoming Concert Reviews of Jonathan Edwards, DJ SUV and More…
DJ Svu DJ SVU Jonathan Edwards with George LaVigne Friday · Madison Theater If Folk/Pop singer/songwriter Jonathan Edwards had never performed another note after producing the 1971 hit "Sunshine," his place in musical history would likely be secure. The two-minute masterpiece's propulsive pace, infectious melody and veiled protest theme ("He can't even run his…
