Feb 15-22, 2017
Celebrating Suds: As the craft beer industry quietly simmered, Beerfest cooked up a plan to connect a passionate brewing community
EEOC asks federal court to order TriHealth to turn over health records
(This story was corrected and updated) The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is asking a federal judge to order TriHealth Inc. to disclose the name of a business client that forces its employees to tell what drugs they take and why they take them. Such a requirement, charged EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum in March 2016, violates…
Bad Writing in Executive Order Is a Product of Bad Thinking
The president’s recent execrable executive order on immigration has many things to unrecommend it. It is illegal, immoral, stupid and against our self-interest. Further, it is poorly written, which may explain the confusion and chaos it provoked. Most often, poor writing is based upon flawed reasoning or fuzzy thinking. The Declaration of Independence has 1,320…
Morning News: More shakeups at Clerk of Courts office; Cincinnati Black Lives Matter holds alternative to Presidents Day; where’s your congressperson?
Good morning all. Here’s some news for you today. Newly-elected Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval continues to make big changes at that office, stirring up controversy among some conservative backers of his predecessor Tracy Winkler. Last week, he appointed veterans from the corporate world to three senior leadership positions and sent five of…
Everything But The House’s legal tiff with a website knockoff is suddenly resolved
Since 2008, the Cincinnati company known as Everything But The House has spread its online auctions to 27 cities and built up a work force of more than 500 people. Its home-clearing auctions have drawn bidders from 46 countries. It sold more than $30 million worth of stuff in 2015. “Consumers have come to recognize…
‘Side Show’: Doubling Down at Footlighters
Any show — especially a musical that promotes itself with the invitation to “Come look at the Freaks” — should anticipate a challenge finding an audience. The 1997 musical Side Show, inspired by Daisy and Violet Hilton, a set of real-life conjoined twins who rose to public attention in the 1930s, had its champions. It…
Stage Door: Haunting Tales of Royals, Ghosts and Twins
From kings to photographers and freak shows, there’s a lot of bad behavior on Cincinnati stages this weekend. Richard III is the Richard Nixon of English kings, reviled by most who remember him. Shakespeare amplified his bad reputation, assigning a violent, cruel character to the young, probably deformed royal (he was a hunchback, the result…
When Facts Get in the Way
Three recent media fiascos reminded me of my love/hate relationship with London’s Daily Mail. The tabloid suggested Melania Trump had been a high-priced “escort” and in a separate story that Trump’s choice for the Supreme Court had been a young fascist leader. Then it screwed up a story on global warming. More on those stories…
Iran’s Oscar-Nominated ‘The Salesman’ is outstanding
Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi doesn’t merely construct narratives with characters facing challenging scenarios; he also studies interpersonal dramas and intimately examines the pivotal decisions people make in the moment. Those decisions, in his films, are guided by family upbringing and social and cultural cues from home communities, as well as a dawning awareness of global…
Your Weekend To Do List (Feb. 17-19)
FRIDAY 17 ART: BADGE OF HONOR Someone give Jonathan Sears a medal. Badge of Honor, the show he has curated at Kennedy Heights Arts Center, feels intimate even though there are weighty issues to consider. Sears and his three artists never lose sight of the individual — even when it’s represented by a figure barely…
Morning News: No Winburn mayoral bid; Ohio legislation would eliminate “pink tax”; Sen. Paul doesn’t want Republicans investigating Trump administration
Hello Cincy! It’s news time. Cincinnati City Councilman Charlie Winburn will not be running for mayor, he announced this morning via a news release. “After careful reflection and prayer, I have decided not to run for Mayor of Cincinnati,” Winburn said in the statement. “I had decided not to run several months ago, but after…
The Playhouse will have a new mainstage in 2020
The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park today announced plans to replace its Marx mainstage theater with a new state-of-the-art facility that’s “commensurate with the Playhouse’s artistry and national reputation.” No major improvements have been made to the Marx since it was built in 1968. It is the oldest un-renovated mainstage facility at any regional theater…
What a Week! Feb. 8-14
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 08 We here at “What a Week!” have debated the idea of selecting a Trump tweet of the week or even a rundown of the top social media posts by our eloquent commander-in-chief. The task has proven too laborious. But this week, one rose to the top — less like cream and more…
Courts Must Protect Media as Much as KKK
The First Amendment to the Constitution is so cherished that the Supreme Court has even protected the rights of hate groups to utter hostile words toward the government. In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), a case that originated here in Hamilton County, the court overturned the conviction of a KKK member under an Ohio syndicalism statute…
‘SNL’ Plays its Trump Card Well
The lampooning of America’s highest office is nothing new for sketch-comedy institution Saturday Night Live (11:30 p.m. Saturdays, NBC). When the show first debuted in 1975, Chevy Chase portrayed President Gerald Ford as a bumbling buffoon, which over the years gave way to Dana Carvey’s George Bush and his catchphrase “Not gonna do it,” Phil Hartman’s…
James Baldwin subject of new documentary
Watching Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro, nominated this year for an Academy Award as Best Documentary, I couldn’t overcome another prideful declaration, a salute as assertive and defiant as a raised fist. As every frame unspooled and every word erupted like a cannon blast from narrator Samuel L. Jackson, I longed to shout,…
‘Summerland’: Gorgeous Production; Cold Story
Lush, black damask curtains. Dark paint and heavy crown moulding. The arch of a suspended domed ceiling. Before Playhouse in the Park’s world-premiere production of Arlitia Jones’ Summerland even began, I had taken so many notes on Paul Shortt’s polished set designs that a fellow audience member asked if I was a set designer myself. Shortt’s staging…
‘Badge of Honor’ finds calm amid conflict
Someone give Jonathan Sears a medal. Badge of Honor, the show he has curated at Kennedy Heights Arts Center, feels intimate even though there are weighty issues to consider. Sears and his three artists never lose sight of the individual — even when it’s represented by a figure barely 2 inches tall — as they think about…
Awaiting Shakespeare and ‘Hamilton’
This is the time of year that theater companies reveal their upcoming seasons. Subscription sales are their goal as they offer packages for 2017-18. Of considerable interest right now is Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s recently announced 24th season, when it relocates to its new theater at Elm and 12th streets in Over-the-Rhine. The opening production at…
The CSO, Cincinnati Opera and May Festival all have recordings attracting widespread attention
Cincinnati’s major Classical music organizations are having a moment. Both the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati May Festival — featuring its chorus with James Conlon conducting the CSO — released recordings last year that earned plaudits from national critics and continue to draw attention. The May Festival’s live from Carnegie Hall performance of The…
Have Your Dessert and Drink it, Too
If you thought a black raspberry chip beer was only possible in your dreams, Braxton Brewing Company’s recent release has likely come as a special treat. The brewery released a black raspberry chocolate chip milk stout at a tapping party on Feb. 3, complete with scoops of either Graeter’s vanilla bean ice cream or black…
Sound Advice: Ruthie Foster with John Ford (Feb. 17)
To say that Ruthie Foster comes from a musical family is like saying the Kennedys are political — it’s accurate but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. The native Texan is at the end of a long familial line of Gospel singers, so naturally she was a soloist in her church choir. But as a…
Sound Advice: Andy Black (Feb. 17)
Andy Biersack’s upbringing in Cincinnati’s Delhi neighborhood was no walk in the park, considering his penchant for Goth fashion and makeup and his dreams of forming a Horror/Punk band as a Cincinnati tween. While Biersack was a student at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, he formed the nascent version of the band he…
Sound Advice: We The Kings with Astro Lasso, Plaid Brixx and Cute Is What We Aim For (Feb. 18)
The current We The Kings tour coincides with the 10th anniversary of the band’s eponymous debut album. Although the album wasn’t a blazing success upon its 2007 release, peaking at No. 151 on Billboard’s Top 200 chart, its second single, “Check Yes Juliet,” went on to sell over a quarter of a million copies in…
K.Flay pushes her diverse Indie Pop/Hip Hop envelope with the forthcoming ‘Every Where is Some Where’
In 2003, Stanford freshman Kristine Flaherty boldly asserted that she could write a better Rap song than anything she’d heard, and quickly churned out “Blingity Blang Blang.” Since then, Flaherty — better known as K.Flay — has independently released singles and mixtapes, signed to a major label, returned to independent status for 2014’s excellent Life…
Hamilton County’s Incredible Shrinking Government
Hamilton County’s population and economy are climbing back to where they were a decade ago. But the county’s government has shriveled into a husk of its pre-recession self. The portrait of a government that people use less, need less and encounter less often comes from Hamilton County’s financial report for calendar 2015, released by the…
As the craft beer industry quietly simmered, Beerfest cooked up a plan to connect a passionate brewing community
Craft beer is everywhere these days, from the taprooms serving rarities to grocery stores selling out of the local stuff first. But that wasn’t always the case. If you wanted a Cincinnati craft beer 10 years ago, you could grab a bottle of Christian Morlein, which was contract-brewed at the time outside the city limits.…
