Cincinnati to get “March for Our Lives” event
Cincinnatians will join in on a series of marches springing up across the country organized by activists and survivors of the Feb. 14 mass shooting that killed 17 people at a school in Parkland, Fla. Debate has swirled once again around gun control following a steady drumbeat of tragedies across the country, including Parkland and…
Gun control efforts ramp up locally, statewide; NKU dean who resigned after sexual harassment complaints retains job as professor; more news
Good morning Cincy. Let’s talk news real quick, shall we? Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld yesterday introduced a motion that would ban so-called “bump stocks,” which are modifications that allow firearms to fire rounds more quickly, in the city of Cincinnati. In a statement, Sittenfeld compared the legislation to similar laws passed in Columbia, S.C.…
This Week’s Recommended Concerts and Shows (Feb. 21-27)
WEDNESDAY 21 Memorial Hall – Valerie June with The War and Treaty. 8 p.m. Alt/Pop/Rock/Roots/Various. $18-$34. MOTR Pub – Wild Rivers with The Sea to Sea. 9:30 p.m. Indie/Folk/Pop. Free. THURSDAY 22 Bromwell’s Härth Lounge – Occidental Gypsy. 7:30 p.m. Jazz. Free. Crow’s Nest – Buffalo Wabs & The Price Hill Hustle. 9 p.m. Americana.…
REVIEW: ‘Be Here Now’ Asks Us to Do Just That
CRITIC'S PICK In a time that often feels like nothing matters, Be Here Now bursts through the gloom and offers a new and uplifting perspective. Be Here Now is a commissioned work — a world premiere for the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park by Deborah Zoe Laufer, a very busy playwright whose Leveling Up had…
Marcel Duchamp’s Cincinnati Connection
What a surprise it is to find that a gallery in the Cincinnati Art Museum is newly devoted to Marcel Duchamp. Not that this French-born artist, who spent much time in New York and died in 1968, doesn’t deserve it — he’s often ranked, along with Picasso and Matisse, as one of the three greatest…
Cincy Shakes announces 2018-19 schedule
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company kicks off its 25th anniversary season in September with something it’s never done before: a musical comedy. Never fear, it’s a modern classic, based on comedies by Plautus, a comic playwright from Ancient Rome. It’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Sept. 7-29, 2018) by legendary composer and…
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau aka Jaime Lannister coming to Cincinnati Comic Expo
The Cincinnati Comic Expo just made the dreams of every die-hard Thrones-er come true with the announcement that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, aka Jaime Lannister on Game of Thrones, will be appearing at the Sept. 14-16 comic con at the Duke Energy Convention Center. The one-handed hottie and sister-lover (spoiler alert?) is a fan favorite and now you…
‘Versace’: True-Crime Drama at its Best
The long-awaited second installment of the miniseries American Crime Story may include Gianni Versace’s name in the title, but this season truly focuses on the sociopathic serial killer who murdered him —Andrew Cunanan. In 1997, the 27-year-old ended a three-month cross-country murder spree by shooting and killing the beloved Italian designer, Versace, outside of his…
What the Success of ‘Black Panther’ Means
Black Panther is more than just a hit movie — it’s a cultural sensation. Over Presidents Day weekend, Variety reports, it took in a record $235 million in North America and has now become a must-see movie for everyone. As a super-hero film based on a Marvel comic book, big opening-weekend numbers aren’t completely unheard…
Make America Tate Again
A few questions into this interview, comedian Geoff Tate pauses, sizes me up from across the table at the Blue Jay Restaurant in Northside and asks, in the wryly laconic manner that characterizes his stand-up, “You do that thing where you don’t say anything to see if I keep talking, don’t you?” I admit as…
Sound Advice: Ruby the Hatchet (Feb. 24)
If Ruby the Hatchet’s latest album, last summer’s Planetary Space Child, sounds particularly vintage, it’s because the recording approach used by the Philadelphia-based quintet was old school. Or, more accurately, “old estate.” The band decamped to a 19th century home in the wilds of Pennsylvania that was designed by an architectural revolutionary of the time.…
A ‘Shout’ for Action at the CAC
Los Angeles-based conceptual artist Glenn Kaino’s first mid-career survey, A Shout Within a Storm, exhibits the work of the trained sculptor, whose choice of media is inventively fluid. The Contemporary Arts Center’s exhibit, curated by Steven Matijcio, shows how that fluidity allows for the artist’s continued investigations of ways to visualize the actions of social-justice…
Us, Today Release New Single
Unique, experimental Cincinnati Rock trio Us, Today returns this week with a single, its first new publicly released music since 2015’s breakthrough album T E N E N E M I E S. That album led to touring opportunities, endorsement deals and glowing press, including a write-up in The Wall Street Journal as a result…
Streetcar saw half the riders expected in January; Kasich’s comments draw ire from gun groups; more news
Hello all. Here are some quick news updates for you today. If you’re a regular CityBeat reader, you probably already know about the Alms, the 200-unit affordable housing apartment building in Walnut Hills. That building, and its residents, have been in limbo for the past couple years. But the uncertainty may be over soon. New…
Rhinegeist Announces Brewcademy Beer School
Have you ever stared into your happy-hour pint glass, watching the little bubbles of carbonation float to the surface, and asked yourself: What is beer? What makes an ale an ale? What is "Belgian style"? The beer masters at Rhinegeist want you to wonder no more as they introduce their Brewcademy, "the Rhinegeist Brewery Beer School…
Activists push SORTA on tax levy amid turbulence at the transit agency
The small conference room in downtown Cincinnati where the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority holds its board meetings was standing room only as bus riders and transit activists piled in Feb. 20. They’d come to push the board to ask voters for a sales tax levy in November so that the city’s Metro bus system…
This Week in Questionable Decisions: Feb. 14-20
This Week in Questionable Decisions… 1. Parents of kids with life-threatening allergies are boycotting Peter Rabbit for “allergy shaming” due to a scene where bunnies attack a man with blackberries (to which he’s allergic) and he has to use an EpiPen. 2. Sacha Baron Cohen reportedly paid O.J. Simpson $20,000 to appear in an upcoming…
Steven Wright Coming to Town
"Yesterday I was… Oh wait a minute. That wasn't me." If that kind of minimalist, deadpan Zen-like joke is to your liking, the Steven Wright may be your favorite comedian. Or, how about, "If at first you don't succeed, then don't try skydiving"? Wright is coming to the Taft Theatre on May 18, it was…
Minimum Gauge: “OAR” distinction at Olympics infuriates Rock band O.A.R. (just kidding, they think it’s funny)
HOT: O.A.R. is Not in the Olympics Rock band O.A.R. have been getting a ton of well-timed publicity from the Winter Olympics. Right after announcing a new album and tour, the band’s initials received attention in Olympic coverage, where “OAR” is used to designate the “Olympic Athletes of Russia,” the games’ weak-ass response to banning…
What a Week!: Feb. 14-20
Holiday! Celebrate! This time of year kind of feels like a holiday wasteland after indulging in office parties, gift exchanges, tasty smorgasbords and lots of wine in the months leading up to January. But there were actually a ton of holidays packed into last week, starting with Galentine’s Day. This Valentine’s Day Eve gathering of…
Chase Public, People’s Liberty Boost Camp Washington Cultural Growth
Chase Public will have a new address in Camp Washington come April 1, accelerating the trend of arts groups and projects moving to and revitalizing that older and once heavily industrial neighborhood. The literary-friendly performance gallery is leaving its Northside location, on the second floor of a building at 1569 Chase Ave. in the neighborhood's…
MadTree’s Cookbook Bridges Beer, Food and Philanthropy
In December, MadTree Brewing self-published a 125-page cookbook, Mix & Mash: Recipes for the Table and Glass, in which every recipe contains one of their four core beers: Happy Amber amber ale, Lift kölsch, PsycHOPathy IPA or PSA American pale ale. The book was inspired by the brewery’s Chef Series, in which MadTree and local…
Sound Advice: Pallbearer (Feb. 24)
To call Pallbearer simply a Metal band is to do the Arkansas-based quartet a grave injustice. The band definitely has made a name for itself through an evocative and sharply honed variant of Black Sabbath-style Doom Metal, but dropping the group into that one niche ignores its moments of haunting melody, beauty and, at times,…
Alms, Burton, other PE Holdings buildings close to sale
A series of apartment complexes offering hundreds of units of affordable housing that were in danger of closure due to neglect could have new owners very soon, according to City of Cincinnati documents. Seven buildings owned by New Jersey-based PE Holdings, including the Alms Hill Apartments in Walnut Hills, the Burton Apartments in Avondale and…
Radiohead Announces July Cincinnati Concert
Influential Modern Rock icons Radiohead have announced a slate of North American summer tour dates, including a July 25 stop at U.S. Bank Arena. It is only the second time the band has played Cincinnati; in 2012, the group performed at Riverbend on its tour for The King of Limbs. Tickets go on sale this…
Sound Advice: TWEN with GRLwood and Scanner (Feb. 24)
Historically, Massachusetts is a hotbed for fuzzed-out College Rock. It’s where Amherst’s Dinosaur Jr. first fiddled with the Muff pedal knobs that gave You’re Living All Over Me its iconic sludginess. Galaxie 500 strummed its first droning G chords in Cambridge while still enrolled at Harvard. It’s also where the four members of TWEN met…
Who Does the City Appoint to Boards?
If you follow Cincinnati politics, you know that various city and regional boards and commissions have been in the white-hot political spotlight over the past couple years. Last week’s drama over a recent mayoral appointment to the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority’s board, last month’s long-stewing fight over the Cincinnati Park Board and past battles…
West End land in potential stadia deal currently generates no property taxes; Kasich reverses course on gun control; more news
Good morning, all. Hope you had a good weekend. Let’s talk news real quick. A big question floating around about FC Cincinnati’s bid to potentially build a soccer stadium in the West End is whether Cincinnati Public Schools will receive full payment from any proposed development via property taxes. Team officials say the district won't…
Poliça and s t a r g a z e bring their unique musical worlds together at Memorial Hall
Adventurous collaborations between Indie/Art Rock outfits and forward-thinking orchestral troupes have dotted the musical landscape in recent years. For proof, see none other than Bryce Dessner’s Cincinnati-set MusicNOW festival, which mixes more conventional bands like his own group, The National, with composers like Nico Muhly and Chamber music masters like Eighth Blackbird. The latest such…
Cincinnati singer/songwriter Mira celebrates debut album release
Talented local singer Kelsey Mira — who performs as simply “Mira” — is a regular presence in the venues of Greater Cincinnati, playing a selection of original songs and covers that pull from Jazz, Pop, Soul, the Great American Songbook and beyond. Mira recently showcased her songwriting and arrangement skills on her first full-length album,…
Fish Fry Fridays
It’s the Lenten season in Cincinnati, which can only mean one thing: Fish Fry Fridays are back. (That and someone you know has given up chocolate for the next 40 days.) Almost every church in Cincinnati — and assorted savvy eateries — are offering some type of special fried fish dish on Fridays. Here are…
Waiting for a Potential Stadium in Cincinnati’s West End
Rachel Anderson was born on Hopkins Street in the West End 78 years ago, and moved out of the neighborhood when the entire southern half of the neighborhood, called Kenyon-Barr by city planners, was razed in the early 1960s to make way for I-75 and as part of federal “slum clearance” programs. Some 25,000-30,000 residents, mostly black…
WATCH: Charlie Millikin’s “All These Things” music video
Cincinnati’s Charlie Millikin writes the kind of massively catchy Pop songs that put him one tiny piece of good exposure away from breaking out on a wide scale. Millikin’s latest, “All These Things,” is no different, containing an endless stream of hooks and melodies that are primed to reach a huge audience. Beyond the music,…
Hamilton County has most death row inmates in Ohio; iconic LGBT club closes; more news
Hello Cincinnati. I dunno if spring is here early or if this above-freezing weather is just a fluke, but I’ll take it as I continue to try and recover from one heck of a case of the flu. Grab your shorts and sandals and chill out on the back porch for a few as we…
Cranley SORTA appointee rejected by council over social media posts
Cincinnati City Council yesterday made the very rare move of rejecting an appointment by Mayor John Cranley, a sign that this term's council won't always be friendly to the mayor's agenda. Cranley appointed Rayshon Mack, a nurse who rides Metro buses to work, to the board of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority. But the…
On Second Thought: National Security, Abuse and ‘The Daily Mail’
It was going to be a miserable day when you got to the office and found 60 Minutes waiting. Change that to dailymail.com and you should have the same sense of impending doom. The Daily Mail is a London tabloid that has built its circulation and website on stories and images of beautiful celebrities. Lately, it’s…
Big shifts on transit authority board; what police can and can’t do with drones; more news
Good morning, all. Here’s some quick news today. FC Cincinnati General Manager Jeff Berding and former mayor Mark Mallory made a pitch to the West End Community Council’s executive board last night for putting their stadium in the neighborhood. You can read more about the meeting in our story here. • If you carried 55,000…
Homecoming/MusicNOW Announces New Acts, Details
The National's upcoming Homecoming Festival in Cincinnati has released more information about its programming and performers. One big addition is that the Cincinnati-originated, Grammy-winning band will perform its 2007 breakthrough album Boxer in its entirety during its headlining, festival-closing April 29 (Sunday) performance at Smale Riverfront Park. That contains one of its most famous and influential…
West End Community Council hears FCC’s stadium pitch
FC Cincinnati General Manager Jeff Berding and former mayor Mark Mallory made a pitch to the West End Community Council’s executive board last night for putting FCC's stadium in the neighborhood. Berding gave mostly the same pitch he gave the night before to Cincinnati Public Schools, which is that the team would like to swap…
