Events: CityBeat’s NYE Speakeasy at Know Theatre
You’ve worked hard all year long — why not play hard at our annual New Year’s Eve Speakeasy Party? Take a step back in time to the Roaring '20s with an evening of appetizers, music, booze, games and more. Come decked out in your most glamorous flapper gowns and dapper suits. Enjoy1920s-inspired drinks — bartenders…
Events: New Year’s Eve Blast
Now that jolly bearded men and flying reindeer have returned to the North Pole, it’s time to celebrate that other winter holiday – New Year’s Eve! And where else could be better to ring in 2012 than the always-happenin’ Fountain Square in Downtown? The Square’s annual New Year’s Eve Blast, sponsored by Toyota, Strauss &…
Onstage: Holiday Shows
It’s your last chance to catch one of the holiday productions onstage at several local theaters. Even though Christmas is in the rearview mirror, you can extend the holiday spirit with a performance that’s suited to the season. The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s beautiful production of A Christmas Carol will “God rest its merry…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Odd Future frontman Tyler, the Creator was arrested Thursday evening for vandalism during the group’s Christmas show. Staff at The Roxy in West Hollywood called the police at around 11:30 p.m. after Tyler allegedly started trashing the sound equipment and throwing it at a sound engineer. Tyler’s crony Frank Ocean sent out a tweet after…
Art: The Weight
Keith Benjamin’s new solo show The Weight at PAC Gallery is an expression of the past. The signs are all there: a reel to reel tape deck, 8 tracks, and a busted transistor radio. But the works made from these items aren’t about Benjamin’s past, they’re about their own. By mining an abundance of post-consumer…
Events: Harlem Globetrotters
At the age of five I told my first story. I said that there were giants living in the sky. When each human was born a giant received his or her book. Each giant’s life was spent reading a person’s story. Although I tried my best to convince myself that the distance between the giants…
Comedy: Sam Evans
This time of year the TV is filled with reruns and bowl games featuring myriad football teams. Luckily there’s live stand-up comedy at Go Banana’s with headliner Tommy Johnagin, Geoff Tate and MC Sam Evans. For Evans, it’s another chance to perform outside the club’s popular Pro-Am show. “I was an English Lit major at…
Art: Fire and Ice
Fire and Ice at NVision is the latest exhibition by prolific local artist Jeanine Mullin Steele. As a former art director, designer and photographer, Steele has documented subjects that range from the exotic (Cuba) to the domestic (weddings). Known for innovative forays into sculpture, Steele has been creating remarkable pieces by crocheting clothing out of…
Squeeze the Day for 12/27
Music Tonight: When it was announced that beloved Newport venue the Southgate House had switched ownership, effectively ending the current management's 30-plus year run at the club, and would close after this Saturday's (now officially sold out) New Year's Eve show, the remaining open dates filled quickly with local acts wanting to play the Southgate…
Stage Door: A Willing Piece of Theater
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company announced today (Merry Christmas!) that it will add a performance to its season with the regional premiere of Vern Thiessen’s Shakespeare’s Will. Veteran Cincinnati actress and CSC Ensemble member Sherman Fracher will take on 10 performances of the one-woman show, Jan. 21-Feb. 5, 2012. (The production will run concurrently with Henry VIII:…
Why Chiquita Left
Chiquita Brands International decided to move its headquarters from Cincinnati primarily due to logistical reasons involving limited flights at the region's airport, said CEO Fernando Aguirre in a recent interview. The company first considered moving its headquarters five years ago, he added. Aguirre's comments are from an interview he gave to the Charlotte Business Journal,…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Adam Lambert was reportedly arrested in Helsinki early this morning with his boyfriend, Finnish reality TV star Sauli Koskinen. The two had an argument that quickly escalated into a physical altercation at a bar. The pair were held for questioning by local authorities who are looking into up to four assault charges. The two have…
Squeeze the Day for 12/22
Music Tonight: If you'd like to chase away the holiday blues with some thumping bass and block-rockin' beats (hey, everyone has their own form of catharsis), The Mad Frog in Corrvyille hosts "Bass-Mas," a night of original Electronic and Dance music. Heavy on Dubstep and Drum ’n Bass stylings, the show features several local artists,…
Squeeze the Day for 12/21
Music Tonight: There is a very good chance that if you head to a bar or club in the next few days, you'll find yourself in the midst of a self-proclaimed "Holiday Spectacular!" of some sort. Even if the bar owner just slaps a Santa hat on the DJ, declares, "There, it's a Christmas party…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Universal Studios is now working on the sixth and seventh installments of the Fast and the Furious franchise. The two sequels will be billed as “Part 1” and “Part 2,” sort of like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. You know, but terrible. Vin Diesel, in English if you would believe it, told Heat Vision…
Art: Material Witness
M aterial Witness at downtown’s Weston Art Gallery is all about the physical. The stuff of hardware stores — plywood, drywall, insulation — remains exposed in the work. If there’s a common thread, it’s the artists’ “careful and considerate material choices,” guest curator Matt Distel says. But art is shaped from ideas plus materials. The…
Whoops! Not Quite So Fast
Sharp-eyed readers who received an email update this week from Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld got a surprise: At the bottom, it stated the missive came from the “Office of Congressman P.G. Sittenfeld.” That prompted some observers to wonder if the error was a Freudian slip and whether Sittenfeld, who was just sworn into his…
Plagiarism’s Meaning Shifts in Digital Age
If Poynter Online director Julie Moos is correct, I’m a plagiarist. I sometimes use others’ words in this column. While attributing the words and ideas to the original writers, I don’t always put their words inside quote marks. That’s not good enough for Moos. It was his failure to maintain that level of attribution purity…
The Year in Film and Music
Bipolar Express Local writers and musicians offer their highlights from a topsy-turvy 2011 A wise man (or woman, for all I know) once said, “You take the good, you take the bad/You take them both and there you have/The facts of life.” Life is, essentially, those ups and downs and how you respond to them…
Out of the Cloud, Against the Stream
I get a bit jittery come December. A nervous tick sets in. An anxiety rests deep in the gut. It’s time to pick the best DVD releases of the year. And I have no idea what to choose. Not for lack of selections, of course. This year has been particularly strong in regards to the…
Breakout Breakdown
S everal performers were working overtime in 2011. Brad Pitt planted The Tree of Life, then scored with Moneyball and even had time to lend vocal support to Happy Feet 2. George Clooney multi-hyphenated himself as co-writer/director/co-star of The Ides of March and then vacationed as a mere performer in The Descendants. Even Clooney’s Ides…
This Is The End?
(Spoiler Alert: This article discusses key plot points of several 2011 movies.) O ne of the most frustrating things about movies — good movies, with quality actors playing interesting characters — is that they too often resort to clichéd endings to wrap up their stories. That’s why it’s refreshing to see that 2011 brought us…
Getting Over Going Under
T here’s something about the written word that adds finality to a subject. Contracts are finished with a signature, newspapers are often considered bastions of truth and obituaries often put a person’s death in perspective for their loved ones. Perhaps this is why I put off writing this story for so long; I didn’t want…
Bipolar Express
A wise man (or woman, for all I know) once said, “You take the good, you take the bad/You take them both and there you have/The facts of life.” Life is, essentially, those ups and downs and how you respond to them in the spaces between. Though always true to some extent, in 2011 the…
Our Favorite NYE Events
T here are many delightful ways to pass from this year and into the next — most of them involve you being subdued by demon alcohol — but there are also an amazing array of happenings at which local artistic masters will inspire you with their creativity, passion and finesse. If you’re ready to graduate…
New Year’s Eve Events
Bar Events Arnie’s on the Levee presents their party with music by DJ Mike B and DJ Fatboy. VIP admission includes an open vodka bar, party favors and an upscale buffet. Buffet dinner and champagne toast included in standard admission. $15 in advance, $20 at the door. VIP seating is $75 and $100 at the…
You Can’t Unwrap a Download
M usic always makes a great holiday gift, and this year the record industry has again put together a wide selection of box sets and other collections to please fans of just about any style of music. Here are some excellent options if you’re stuck and looking for a last-minute present. • The Beach Boys…
Soundtracking the War on Christmas
With Christmas falling on a weekend this year, there are far fewer live music shows in the area this season. But on the weekdays there are some excellent options. • Walnut Hills hotspot The Greenwich shows its holiday spirit on Thursday at 8 p.m. with “Jazz at Christmas,” a night of live Jazz performed by…
They’re Getting Super-Rich at Our Expense
S ince this column will be published four days before Christmas and many readers will be overdosing on holiday cheer and goodwill, here are some items that should really help counteract those warm, fuzzy feelings for a bit. A new report released this month found that 30 large U.S. corporations paid more to lobby Congress…
Dec. 14-20: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY DEC. 14 Both liberals and non-liberals wrote a lot today about how hard it was to understand Mitt Romney’s proposed $10,000 bet with Rick Perry during last weekend’s Republican primary debate. In a rare form of unity, pundits from both sides of American politics agreed that being in a situation where betting against a…
Turquoise’s Upscale Mediterranean Satisfies
I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I entered Turquoise (628 Vine St., Downtown). This Turkish/Mediterranean restaurant, which opened in October, is owned by Levant Kurucay, who previously owned Cafe Istanbul at Newport on the Levee. Cafe Istanbul started out great, but the menu eventually became way too Americanized, and I wasn’t sad when…
The Girl Also Rises
T he Swedish translation of the first book in Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy is Men Who Hate Women, and the 2009 Niels Arden Oplev adaptation made sure to lay that hatred bare, introducing audiences to the Vanger clan, a Swedish industrial family of the first order with deep and long ties to the Nazis and…
Cincy by the Slice (Review)
T he idea of “pizza by the slice” has been around in major metropolitan areas forever, but it seemed a long time coming to Cincinnati — at least for anyone other than the late-night crowd. Fortunately, Downtown was recently blessed with a by-the-slice pizza option open for lunch, dinner and late night snacking: Cincy by…
Spirited In the Material World
M aterial Witness at downtown’s Weston Art Gallery is all about the physical. The stuff of hardware stores — plywood, drywall, insulation — remains exposed in the work. If there’s a common thread, it’s the artists’ “careful and considerate material choices,” guest curator Matt Distel says. But art is shaped from ideas plus materials. The…
To Tweet or Not to Tweet?
When I enter a theater for a performance, my enjoyment comes from the chance to escape the everyday world and connect with different people or places or situations. I love to experience new perspectives and ideas. And once that’s over — as a fan or a theater critic — I look forward to telling others…
Salvage the Bones: A Novel
With her tough, tense and taut tale of one rural family’s bitter and bloody fight for survival in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, 2011 National Book Award-winner Jesmyn Ward has secured herself a place among such other great Southern writers as Flannery O’Connor, Harper Lee and William Faulkner. Ward’s electrifying, exhilarating, edge-of-your-seat second…
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
It takes an intellectual scholar with the knowledge, depth and curiosity of Harvard professor Stephen Greenblatt to take a tale ancient and unknown and turn it into a compelling saga. Greenblatt’s The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, winner of the 2011 National Book Award for non-fiction, tells the fascinating story of how an obscure…
