Pro-Gun Group Offers Free Shooting Training for Ohio Teachers
A pro-gun group called the Buckeye Firearms Foundation says it plans to send 24 school teachers through a training program to avoid mass murders in Ohio schools, which it called “victim zones.” The organization, which has been holding classes for cops and civilians in rural Adams County near Cincinnati for about 15 years, calls the…
Sacred Harp Sessions Spawn “Many Rivers”
This particular version of "Many Rivers to Cross," featuring Greater Cincinnati greats Kelly Thomas and The Mudpies, has been haunting me all week (in a great way). It was recorded as the third episode in a brilliantly conceived yearlong project by Thomas and several of her creative pals, The Sacred Harp Sessions, in which she…
Afghan Whigs
In late October, ’90s AltRock heroes The Afghan Whigs played their first show in Cincinnati — the city in which the band formed — in 13 years at Bogart’s in Corryville. The concert was in the midst of a successful global “reunion” tour, universally hailed as a triumphant return to form. The Whigs’ “homecoming” show…
Think Globally, Listen Locally
I t was another impossibly great year for recordings created by Greater Cincinnati musicians. Here’s a look at some of the best covered by CityBeat over the past year, culled from the original write-ups written by myself and Mr. Brian Baker. Dig in, search out the ones that sound interesting to you and make it…
Morning News and Stuff
Facing tight budgets, Ohio schools, including Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS), are considering open enrollment. The move would open school doors to neighboring communities. It was previously considered by CPS a decade ago, but the plan didn’t have enough support from the district’s board. It might now. Next year could be challenging for Ohio schools. Butler…
Afghan Whigs’ New Year’s Eve Show: An Ohio Music Family Reunion
In late October, ’90s AltRock heroes The Afghan Whigs played their first show in Cincinnati — the city in which the band formed — in 13 years at Bogart’s in Corryville. The concert was in the midst of a successful global “reunion” tour, universally hailed as a triumphant return to form. The Whigs’ “homecoming” show…
You, You’re Awesome
Experimental live-Electronica/Rock band You, You're Awesome brings MOTR Pub a weird, wild and wonky transition into 2013 with a special New Year's Eve performance. See a full CityBeat profile of You, You're Awesome here. YOU, YOU'RE AWESOME performs Monday, Dec. 31 at MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine. Buy tickets, check out performance times and venue details…
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Every year, New Year’s Eve arrives with an unavoidable air of hype. Loud, glittery, booze-ridden events abound, there’s social pressure to scope out the hottest party, drink the best champagne, kiss the right person at midnight and dress the flashiest. In our own futile attempts to make the night story-worthy for years to come, we…
Losers No More: 2012 in Cincinnati Sports
For too long the denizens of our fair city have identified themselves as losers because of the struggles of our professional sports teams, but perhaps we turned a corner in 2012. This was a year of victory for both the Reds and Bengals, as the two teams will visit the postseason during the same year…
Cincinnati vs. The World 12.26.2012
I’ve come to resent this column a little bit. Each time I compile Cincinnati vs. the World, I feel my intrinsic sense of trust and optimism being drained, drop by drop, as I struggle to find positive world news to complement local Cincinnati stories for my weekly tally. It’s harder than it sounds. I started…
Leis to Stay on Public Payroll
Outgoing Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis is retiring after his current term and Jim Neil will replace him on Jan. 6, 2013, but that doesn’t mean Leis is done with public life. The lawman best known for the raid of the Contemporary Arts Center over an allegedly obscene Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit and his prosecution of…
New Year’s Eve Events
Thanks, Mayans. You royally mucked up the month of December by inciting a ridiculous amount of dialogue about the end of the world, and now everybody already threw raging parties to celebrate even when we all knew perfectly well your ancient theory was bullshit. New Year’s Eve is kind of pissed about it. You totally…
Music Hall Renovations Coming
Cincinnati’s Music Hall will be getting renovations, but the project will be much smaller than anticipated. Instead of the previously estimated $165 million, the project, which involves the city leasing the iconic building to the Music Hall Revitalization Company (MHRC) for 75 years, will only cost approximately $95 million. At a joint press conference Dec.…
Council Passes SORTA Resolution, Budget
In hopes of quashing rumors, City Council Dec. 19 passed a resolution promising not to use Metro bus money on the streetcar. The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit authority had voted Dec. 18 on an agreement with the city that contained a provision saying money from the $42 million transit fund that pays for bus operation…
Extra! Extra! 2012 Didn’t Suck
A lot happened in Cincinnati and Ohio in 2012, and, for the most part, the year was good to progressives around the nation and in Cincinnati. There were some problems here and there, but the Democratic majority on City Council and President Obama’s successful re-election campaign made for a less frustrating year in news, at…
Worst Week Ever!: Dec. 19-25
WEDNESDAY DEC. 19 Like tattoos and blood pacts with the devil, getting a pet is a decision that can have long-term effects. A well-written guest column in today’s Enquirer titled, “One-day gift is lifetime commitment” explains how pets aren’t the same as other gifts people don’t like, because they cost a lot of money after…
Cover This
Pit bull ban, legalization When 2012 started, pit bulls were banned within Cincinnati city limits. The dogs had been banned for nine years as part of the city’s vicious dog ordinance. In February, a change in state law removed the automatic labeling of “vicious” for pit bulls and pit bull mixes, ending 25 years of…
Correctly Reporting Incorrect Information
Shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School once again demonstrate a troubling paradox: A news story can be accurate and wrong. The aftermath of the massacre quickly provided reporters with opportunities to put out stories that accurately reported wildly incorrect but seemingly authoritative information. The first, worst mistake was identifying Ryan Lanza as the shooter. It was…
Gone By
I am a compulsive list-maker. Phone calls. (My Aunt Janice; my sister, Devin.) Emails. (I am not on Facebook. I keep up the old-school way.) Groceries. (Asparagus, chicken, salmon, milk, cereal, pasta, bananas, cheese, eggs, turkey sausage.) Story ideas. Potential sources. Blown deadlines. How to stretch then move them like the counterweight on a doctor’s…
Morning News and Stuff
Despite problems with staff and records, a report is calling changes to Ohio’s youth prisons system a model for the nation . The report from a court-appointed monitor praised the Ohio Department of Youth Services for reducing the number of offenders in secure confinement and spreading services for youthful offenders around the state. However, the…
Event: Hangover Pajama Brunch
To seasoned drinkers, we accept this as a fact of life: Chances are high you’re going to wake up on New Year’s Day with a horrible, no-good, disgusting case of nausea and a bitchin’ headache that won’t quit. While it’s tempting to crawl under covers and forego the light of day — all day —…
Music: CSO New Year’s Celebration
The CSO’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration has a pronounced French accent, beginning with a concert in Music Hall featuring “La Vie en Rose,” music from Gigi, La Bohème and possibly the best-known French melody outside of La Marseillaise, Offenbach’s “Le Galop Infernale,” better known as the can-can. French-Canadian soprano Natalie Choquette, a renowned cabaret…
Event: Know Theatre CityBeat NYE Speakeasy Party
We’re turning the Know Theatre’s underground bar into a 1920s speakeasy for our seventh annual rockin’ New Year’s Eve shindig. Raid your closet for your finest Roaring Twenties swag — ladies, that means flapper gear; bros, find a pantsuit and a fedora. Prepare to party Prohibition-style, which means we’re letting the manhattans, martinis and sidecars…
Event: Cincinnati Winter Antiques Market
This weekend, the Cintas Center will transform into a bustling street bazaar as the Cincinnati Winter Antiques Market returns for its second year. The market will feature at least 50 local and regional vendors presenting antique, vintage and retro goods. Whether you’re in search of rare pottery, unique pop culture memorabilia, a worn copy of…
Literary: An Evening with Nick Barrows and Mark Flanigan
Last month, two local literary minds joined forces for the release of a two-pronged poetry collection, Versus. The text, featuring the potent voices of Mark Flanigan and Nick Barrow, marks a dark, scathing, humorous and insightful form of poetic storytelling that becomes even more expressive via live performances. Join the writers for an evocative evening…
Event: Northern Kentucky Wine Trail
You don’t have to tell us: We know the holidays are stressful. Now that they’re (almost) over, it’s time to kick back and relax this weekend with an extensive tour honoring and appreciating Cincinnati’s local wineries, in style. Nightshift Limousine provides the transportation between tastings so you and your friends can enjoy every last minute…
Comedy: Mike Vecchione
“I take a joke then add a joke and then build it up. Some guys do that, and I’m one of those guys. It just seems like you always want what you can’t have,” says Mike Vecchione. “So you work on your weakness and to me that’s my weakness: expanding on stories.” You wouldn’t know…
Onstage: A Christmas Carol
Yes, Christmas happened on Tuesday. But I bet you haven’t put away your decorations yet. At the Cincinnati Playhouse, Scrooge has a few more Christmas Eve encounters with ghosts who cure him of his curmudgeonly ways. (The production closes on Sunday.) Bruce Cromer has played the role with panache for eight years. First, he’s an…
Parental Guidance
Fluffy family friendly alert! Old school grandparents (Billy Crystal and Bette Midler) agree to take care of their three grandchildren when their daughter (Marisa Tomei) and her husband (Tom Everett Scott), a high-achieving new millennial working couple, are forced to jet off to high-pressure assignments. You can bet that the grandparents will learn something about…
Les Misérables
Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) sure knows how to set the bar a notch or two higher, just to challenge himself. He follows up his Academy Award winning film by diving headlong into an adaptation of a beloved musical and pushes his all-star cast (featuring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway) to record their…
Django Unchained
Much like Inglorious Basterds, his revisionist take on Jewish revenge on the Nazis, Quentin Tarantino tackles the curious American institution of slavery in Django Unchained, but by focusing on the efforts of a freed slave turned bounty hunter named Django (Jamie Foxx) to do whatever it takes to free his wife (Kerry Washington) from the…
Stuff I Learned Watching TV This Year
Television gets a bad rap for being the poor man’s medium. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of weak and culturally regressive programming out there, from The Bachelor to Huckabee. But because of its accessibility and popularity, fads on television often represent greater cultural trends. Here are a few I’ve noticed. Jersey: Out; Georgia:…
Leis to Stay on Public Payroll
Outgoing Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis is retiring after his current term and Jim Neil will replace him on Jan. 6, 2013, but that doesn’t mean Leis is done with public life. The lawman best known for the raid of the Contemporary Arts Center over an allegedly obscene Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit and his prosecution of…
Reel Talk
Going deeper into movies By Jason Gargano Summing up a year’s worth of movies can be tricky. Top 10 lists often yield more questions than answers. The subjective nature of the endeavor inevitably reveals personal interests, quirks and prejudices, all of which can be either intriguing or infuriating depending on whether you agree with a…
Dishing Out 2012
“I ’m coming to Cincinnati to visit. What restaurant should I try?” I see people ask this question again and again on national websites like Chowhound or Eater, and the reply is always, “Skyline and Graeter’s — that’s Cincinnati!” Well, yes, they are. But is that really Cincinnati now? It’s like saying that you should…
Stagestruck
T hroughout the year I assign “Critic’s Picks” to noteworthy theatrical productions. As 2012 draws to a close, it seems like a good time to take a look back at some shows that made the grade. Back in January the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park staged the world premiere of Dead Accounts by Cincinnati native…
Art About Town
T his may seem a strange way to start a review of the year in Cincinnati’s visual arts, but the piece that stays with me the most — haunts me, really — doesn’t even fit any traditional definition of art. It’s a bit of graffiti scrawled on the wall, at a high point so it…
Curmudgeon Notes 12.26.2012
• How a small weekly responds to an unimaginable disaster and scores a world scoop is a lesson in the best of journalism. Poynter online’s Julie Moos described what happened after Newtown Bee associate editor Shannon Hicks heard the initial call over her police scanner. Hicks drove the mile and a quarter and arrived behind…
Morning News and Stuff
Cincinnati Public Schools seems to be playing a big role in reforming Ohio’s school funding formula . Superintendent Mary Ronan got a call from Gov. John Kasich’s office about the per-pupil funding formula CPS uses to distribute funds to its schools. It seems the state might adopt a similar method, but Ronan is cautious: “I…
