Year-end accolades for local musicians
Wussy has had a pretty good year. Check CityBeat next week for our annual roundup of the best Greater-Cincinnati-produced CDs of 2007. This year, for the first time in a while, those outside of Cincinnati have really paid attention to our local music scene. Besides Paste magazine's Cincy love (Over the Rhine's latest ranked No.…
Main Event: The Nutcracker moves out of its comfort zone
Peter Mueller The Nutcracker Out of the Comfort Zone To every thing there is a season. When you see dancing mice, Sugar Plum fairies, a flying sleigh bed and international dolls springing to life, you know it's Nutcracker time. A venue change is afoot for Cincinnati Ballet's THE NUTCRACKER: Rather than taking place in…
Choosing an Alternative Health Practitioner
In 1990, more than 400 million visits were made to U.S. complementary and alternative medicine practitioners. There were only 390 million primary care physician visits during the same period. When looking for a conventional family physician, many of us talk to friends or professionals whom we trust will give us good referrals. The same holds…
News: Paying for Politics
Fifty-five incumbents in last year´s congressional election had no opponents. At least one bi-partisan organization says that an option for public funding might have lent itself to creating viable competition in such races and ultimately better government. Speaking last week at a forum at Christ Church Cathedral downtown, John Rauh, president and founder of Americans…
Cover Story: The Year in Film & Music: Bowl Cuts, Dicks & Day-Lewis
Jacob Drabik The Year in Film & Music 2007 Best unabashedly wack studio release: Craig Brewer´s Black Snake Moan comes on like a scuzzy, Southern-fried Tennessee Williams melodrama and rarely lets up. Teetering on the edge of complete outrageousness but never less than sincere, this far-out fable is a strangely tender exploration of religious…
Crudely Insensitive
Although a healthy skepticism in the field of psychic phenomena is usually appropriate, to cynically equate psychics with psychosis (Gregory Flannery´s ¨Psychotic Festival,¨ issue of Dec. 12) is a crudely insensitive comparison for such a PC publication as yours. Even psych patients can see and experience the benefits of smoking cessation — a common psych…
Sad News for Cincinnati’s Poor
CityBeat Archive Jimmy Heath became an advocate for the homeless the hard way — via personal experience. Over-the-Rhine has lost a friend and advocate, as have homeless people, panhandlers, people struggling with addiction and those who dared to leave suburban comforts in an effort to know the heart of poverty. Jimmy Heath has died.…
News: Redecorating for the Chief
CityBeat Archive Instead of spending overtime for additional foot patrols, as intended by city council, Police Chief Thomas Streicher Jr. redecorated his office. Cincinnati's police chief didn't spend the $2.7 million this year that city council told him to use for increased walking patrols, but he did spend money to renovate his personal office…
‘Taint the Season
I should start off with an apology to my girls, presently 6 and 9, because I realize that the truth can hurt. But lies, especially lies that have no point or meaning, can do far more damage even though our initial intentions might be good. That road has been repaved so many times it rises…
Film: Review: The Savages
Fox Searchlight Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney are brother and sister in The Savages. The maturely humane, rueful tone of director/writer Tamara Jenkins' comedy The Savages, about the confused grown children of an elderly man facing dementia, is akin to Alexander Payne's About Schmidt and Sideways. That's partly because Jenkins (The Slums of…
The Mitchell Report Stands, but the Truth Is Elusive
Jerry Dowling The time for deciding if Roger Clemens should be voted into the baseball Hall of Fame isn´t today but five years from today, if not 20 years or more. Of course, that doesn´t stop us from asking the question right now. Bud Selig´s spotlight on steroids lit up about 80 present and…
Art: Review: Local Color
Publico examines regionalism in the group exhibition Local Color. Four artists and one group of artists present work that's informed by their environments. The art term local color defines the true color of an object as seen in nature. In the most literal sense, local color exists in Steven Mumford's "Baghdad Journals." While some of…
Film: Review: Sweeney Todd
Paramount Johnny Depp uses more than his voice in Sweeney Todd. Director Tim Burton's screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's 1979 Grand Guignol musical is at once mesmerizing and disappointing. Outstanding singing performances from its capable ensemble cast contrast unfavorably with Burton's trademark affinity for a monochromatic color scheme of white, blue, brown and gray.…
Listopia 2007
Love You Live: Top 10 Live Music Events and Photos of 2007 BY KEITH KLENOWSKI 10. The Hold Steady at Southgate House, 9. Midpoint Music Festival on Main St., 8. Robert Pollard at Southgate 7. Morrissey at Murat Theatre (Indianapolis) 6. Josh Ritter at Southgate. 5. Cincinnati Entertainment Awards at Taft Theatre 4. Arcade Fire…
Cover Story: Essential Home Viewing
No critic/reviewer has the time and/or energy to watch every DVD that floats across his or her desk. It's an impossible task, save for those who can survive without sleep, food, bathing, fresh air, sunlight and social interaction. We watch what we can, but some titles are sacrificed. Unfortunately, obscure, marginalized, specialized titles are…
Onstage: Review: The Frog Princess
Sandy Underwood Charlie Clark (left) and Anna Kate Bocknek star in The Frog Princess. When I reviewed Ensemble Theatre's revival of Joe McDonough and David Kisor's The Frog Princess in 2002, my commentary was titled "A Big Leap." I cited a remark by Artistic Director D. Lynn Meyers, who said, "This is a show…
Living Out Loud: : Paybacks Are Hell
(Excerpt from Larry Gross' work in progress, The Hurricane Cafe: a Novel) I got through the morning as best I could. Since I'll be out of town next week, I submitted another column to Greg. It's damn good, if I do say so myself. I'm looking at my watch. It's 1 in the afternoon and…
News: Year of Decision Ahead
Three new members are starting and three old members are leaving, a $66 million deficit looms and the head staffer is leaving in June. What´s a board of education to do? Work hard — that´s what Eileen Cooper-Reed, president of the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) Board of Education, says is the essential response to…
Cover Story: It’s Sad and Beautiful World
The seventh year of the 21st century was the most fucked up year of my life. Fucked up in a good and bad way, if that makes sense. I felt my heart crumple and then soar. Peppered with little fantastic bursts of elation, melancholy and misery. I had no physical tragedy, only a Tilt-o-Whirl of…
New Twist on the New Year Resolution
I´ve been thinking about it, and this year I´ve decided not to make a resolution. I´m done with swearing to lose 5 pounds, quit drinking or be nicer to the cranky neighbor down the street. As a change of pace I offer suggestions to restaurants for their New Year´s resolutions based on my top 10…
Onstage: Review: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Jersey Productions will probably sell a boatload of tickets for its production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat due to its large chorus of grade-school children. It's a fairly standard holiday strategy for smaller theaters — find a show that will accommodate a large cast of kids and let the ticket purchases from friends…
Looking Over My Shoulder
"Funny now how it all goes by so fast/ One day I'm looking over my shoulder at the past." — Mary Chapin Carpenter, "The Long Way Home" Funny how you can be mulling a column in your head, trying to work out a way into the theme, and you hear a song that says exactly…
News to Use
Special School Board Meeting The Cincinnati Board of Education meets in a special session to discuss finances at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 20. The meeting is in the Interactive Learning Center at 2651 Burnet Ave. in Corryville. The agenda is on the school district´s Web page at www.cps-k12.org. Learn Police Work The next session of the…
Cover Story: The Killer(s) Inside
Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men. In 1952, Jim Thompson made his name with The Killer Inside Me, a crime thriller about small-town Texas deputy Lou Ford. At 29, Ford lorded over the community with easygoing, good-old-boy charm while never carrying a gun. Not that he needed one, though, because (as he constantly…
When Your Home Becomes Your Enemy
I was shocked to find out that my toddler had elevated levels of lead in his blood. It stopped short of lead poisoning, but we needed to correct the problem immediately and I had no idea how this could have happened. None of his toys had been recalled for lead paint, and, while there was…
