This Week’s Dining Events and Cooking Classes (2/25-3/4)
A list of cooking classes, dining events and alcohol parties taking place this week. Warning: Cooking classes frequently sell out. WEDNESDAY FEB. 25 Hone Your Knife Skills — Learn to properly care for and hold a knife. 6-8 p.m. $60. The Learning Kitchen, 7659 Cox Lane, West Chester, thelearningkitchen.com. Taste of the World Food Tour — Take a guided foodie…
Onstage: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Alvin Ailey once said, “Dance is for everybody. I believe that the dance came from the people and that it should always be delivered back to the people.” More than two decades after his passing, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is coming to the Aronoff for two days to deliver said gift of dance…
Event: Ohio Winter Food Festival
Formerly known at the Taste of Northern Cincinnati, the Ohio Winter Food Festival celebrates the restaurants of Cincinnati’s northern suburbs. This friendly competition pits vendors like West Chester’s Troy’s Café, Parkers Blue Ash Tavern, Sharonville’s Brick House Bar & Grill and more against each other to win best in show. Taste each of the restaurants’…
Music: Xoe Wise
Singer/songwriter Xoe Wise moved from North Carolina to Chicago to follow her musical dreams and quickly became a local favorite. Wise has gradually moved from a Folk Pop style to a highly melodic and soulful Electro Pop/Chillwave approach since debuting with her 2010 album, Echo. Wise’s excellent 2013 EP Breakfast was well received, reaching the…
Event: Cincinnati Home & Garden Show
According to the current weather forecast, most of our yards will still be covered in snow during the entirety of the 2015 Cincinnati Home & Garden Show. As depressing as that may seem right now, spring is (hopefully) just around the corner and it has already sprung at the Duke Energy Convention Center. Wander through…
Event: Maple Sugar Days
Come celebrate the spring awakening of maple trees as you learn the craft of maple syrup making. Sweet tooths of all ages will discover how the clear, sticky sap is collected, boiled over a fire and transformed into syrup. Additionally, families can enjoy crafts, demonstrations and naturalist-led hikes. Maple treats, including waffles, ice cream and…
Film: ReelAbilities Film Festival
The ReelAbilities Film Festival, dedicated to movies that highlight the abilities of those considered “disabled,” isn’t new. It was here in 2013. But it’s vastly different this year — in fact, it’s now the city’s highest-profile film festival because the local group Living Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled has contracted to operate the national series…
Event: Cold Nights & Warm Spirits
If you’re tired of the winter dredge, seek refuge at Ault Park’s Cold Night & Warm Spirits whiskey tasting. Enjoy some of the finest American, Irish, Canadian and Scottish whiskies at this social and spirited event, with live music and light bites. Bring your own cigar to enjoy around a roaring fire on the cigar…
Music: Elton John
The legendary Sir Elton John will be at U.S. Bank Arena on Friday with his piano and backing band, performing hits from his prolific five-decade career. His 2013 release, The Diving Board, was his 31st album, and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road — the album with “Bennie and the Jets,” “Candle in the Wind” and “Saturday…
Onstage: Shen Yun
Prepare to be uplifted and inspired by tremendous onstage energy as legends and classic heroes spring to life through historic Chinese dance. Sensational global performing group Shen Yun will take you on a profound journey through 5,000 years of Chinese culture, featuring the world’s most classically trained dancers accompanied by a live orchestra combining the best…
Art: Reconstructed: New Work by Michael Willett at 1305 Gallery
Via the continued efforts of artist friends Michael Stillion and Melanie Derrick, 1305 Gallery continues to promote the work of quality artists more than a year after founder Lily Mulberry’s death. Final Friday, 1305 hosts Reconstructed: New Work by Michael Willett, a solo show of work by Willett, who graduated from DAAP’s MFA program and…
Event: Passport to Wine & Beer
Allow yourself to be whisked around the globe on a delicious, boozy journey featuring 3-ounce tastings of more than 25 unique ales, porters and wines from all corners of the world. Live music from Joel Cotton, plus guidance from beer and wine experts, will complement the tastings, which include a souvenir glass. Visit various hors…
Event: Art After Dark
The Cincinnati Art Museum’s Art After Dark events are a great way to visit the museum after hours for socializing, art viewing and wine drinking. Friday’s Art After Dark event celebrates the opening of the museum’s new exhibit, The Total Look, an exploration of the creative collaboration between fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, model Peggy Moffitt…
Comedy: Chris Franjola
“The best part about being a comedian is hanging out with other comics,” Chris Franjola says. It’s that camaraderie, along with a sharp wit, that led to his work as a writer and performer on Chelsea Lately. Franjola arrived in Los Angeles from New York and met 19-year-old comedian Chelsea Handler while doing an open…
Onstage: August: Osage County
Tracy Letts’ 2008 play was a throwback to another era, a three-act, three-hour drama about a dysfunctional family colliding in the arid flatlands of the Oklahoma plains when their father goes missing. Not the usual fodder of contemporary drama (or perhaps because of it), the show won that year’s Pulitzer Prize for drama and Broadway’s…
Hip Hop for the Children
Last year, Cincinnati Hip Hop artist MC Till (aka Adam Hayden) did the unexpected and released The Neighborhood, an amazing album that brilliantly fused Jazz with Hip Hop rhymes. This year, Hayden is working on another delightful musical curveball — a Hip Hop-centric album (available on vinyl) and book project for children titled The Corner. …
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all, here’s the news this morning. Have you ever thought there should be more bars downtown? I hadn’t really thought about it before, but then I’m not a huge bar person. 3CDC, on the other hand, has and would like the city to take steps to increase the number of liquor licenses in two…
I Just Can’t Get Enough…Oscars
Neil Patrick Harris hosted the 87th Oscars Sunday night. Let’s talk about it! Having hosted multiple Emmy and Tony award shows in the past, quadruple-threat NPH (he sings, dances, acts and does magic) was well suited — cue Barney Stinson high-five — to the task. He did in fact sing, dance, act and do magic all…
FotoFocus Lecture to Feature Roe Ethridge
The FotoFocus Lecture and Visiting Artist Series at Cincinnati Art Museum will feature photographer Roe Ethridge on March 25 at 7 p.m. According to FotoFocus, Ethridge — who works in both commercial and fine art photography — draws upon the descriptive power of photography and the ease with which it can be accessed, duplicated and recombined.…
Playhouse Announces World Premieres and Other Works for 2015-2016
I don’t pay much attention to Groundhog Day for signs of spring, and Reds Opening Day is way too late to celebrate the promise of warmer weather. My key indicator for when spring is just around the corner is when Cincinnati-area theaters start announcing their upcoming seasons. (In fact, Cincinnati Landmark Productions was the first…
Collective Espresso to Man New CAC Cafe
The Zaha Hadid-designed Contemporary Arts Center's Kaplan Hall Lobby is currently undergoing an estimated $1.1 million renovation to make the space more welcoming to visitors. The goal of the renovated lobby, which was designed by local design and architecture firm FRCH Design Worldwide, will be to engage visitors through an updated lounge space, cafe and bar, relocated welcome desk and more carefully curated…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning y’all. I’m fresh off my epic, hour-long alpine adventure, also known as my walk to work. Did you wonder what happened to all the snow that had been on the roadways as you were driving leisurely to work this morning? It's now piled in mountains on the sidewalk by city snowplows. Thanks guys.…
Leftovers: What We Ate This Weekend
Each week CityBeat staffers and dining writers tell you what they ate this weekend. We're not always proud — or trendy — but we definitely spend at least some money on food. Jac Kern: I stocked up on groceries Friday night in preparation for a weekend full of snow, pajamas and movies. Pizza-making is a perfect snow day activity,…
Fish Fry Fridays
You don't have to be religious to reap the benefits of the fish fries of the Lenten season. Area churches, Catholic high schools, Masonic lodges and more are offering up all variety of fried cod and other fish on Fridays, with bonus side dishes like homemade mac and cheese and coleslaw. The fries also frequently try to one-up…
Performance and Time Arts Series Hosts Original Production
Performance and Time Arts (PTA), a project of Contemporary Dance Theater, is the longest-running performance art showcase in the city, but until this weekend it has never been host to a single production. One Way Road on a Two Way Street, an original multi-act examination by an all-female cast of unrequited love and its ramifications,…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all! Here’s a quick morning news rundown. In the wake of last month’s infamous pickup truck incident (wherein a disgruntled man tried to ram his vehicle into our seat of city government), City Hall might be getting metal detectors. Council voted yesterday to find out how much the security measure will cost. The city…
Stage Door: Fatherless Families on Cincinnati Stages
Just how can Tracy Letts' sprawling play August: Osage County be wedged into the tiny Clifton Performance Theatre on Ludlow? Director Buz Davis knows that this show is more about characters and great dialogue than the set; he told me so. (Read more in my Curtain Call column here.) He's made it possible for you…
Your Weekend To Do List (2/20-2/22)
Looking for things to do this weekend? There's plenty of reasons to leave the house — once you put on like six layers of clothes, a hat, gloves, some snow boots and tire chains. FRIDAY 20 EVENT: The Art of Food Celebrating the ways in which food appeals to our senses both orally and visually, The Carnegie’s ninth…
Forgotten Classics: Harry and Tonto
When I started doing this blog series I promised myself that I would avoid covering movies that had won an Academy Award, especially those that were awarded Best Picture, Director or Actor. When most people decide to look up “classics” to watch, their go-tos are often Oscar winners. But there is a 1974 film that…
West of Sunset
In 1937, with America still clawing out of the Great Depression, F. Scott Fitzgerald was in big trouble. After years of what the Irish call “too much drink,” the party was over and Scott was in poor health. To add to his travails, he was broke and saddled with supporting his mentally unstable wife Zelda,…
Small Victories
Anne Lamott, author of her seventh book on spirituality, Small Victories, is nothing if not unique. The 60-year-old Northern California grandmother is a nature-loving, earthy-crunchy hiker/skier; she’s also a self-described “narcissist,” politically to the left of Chairman Mao and a member of a predominantly black Baptist church (where she sings “a cappela and out of…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all! Here’s a quick rundown of what’s going on today in the news. Cincinnati Enquirer Publisher Margaret Buchanan will retire from her position, making way for former Enquirer reporter and editor Rick Green to take the helm of the paper. Green is currently the publisher of the Des Moines Register, where he was previously…
Bye Bye, Li’l Parks Show
After seven seasons celebrating local government, breakfast foods and Mouse Rat, it’s time to bid farewell to Leslie Knope and all the residents of Pawnee as Parks and Recreation (8 p.m. Tuesday, NBC) comes to a close this week with a one-hour series finale. With such a huge fan following today, it’s easy to forget…
New Documentary Explores What it Means to be a Working Artist
The criterion of success for artists has always been more complex than for most other professions. Starting off, there is the simple fact of determining whether or not “artist” can be designated as a profession. The work is seen as a hobby or something done for oneself and it is traded in exclusive realms of…
Unblinded by Science
Lewis Black calls from a hotel room in Los Angeles. Taking a short break from his “The Rant is Due: Part Deux” tour, Black is in Hollywood to do some voice work on the new Pixar animated film Inside Out, in which he appropriately voices the character of Anger. He’s anxious to get back on…
Cincinnati’s Lightborne Helped Create Katy Perry’s Super Bowl Show
When news came out that Katy Perry’s Super Bowl halftime show was the most-watched and highest-rated of any in history, there was celebration at Lightborne Communications, the video production services company in Over-the-Rhine. Lightborne created all of the animated video projections and lighting used in Perry’s 12-and-a-half-minute set, which featured a medley of abbreviated versions…
Juicy Words and Family Feuds in a Tight Space
Director Buz Davis recently gave me a tour of the set he designed for August: Osage County, the show he’s directing at Clifton Performance Theatre. When the production of Tracy Letts’ play, winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for best play in 2008, was announced, he was barraged with questions: “Obviously…
Carnegie Candy Land
A t most art gallery openings, you might score a plastic cup of wine and a few cubes of cheddar or Swiss cheese, maybe a cracker and some hummus. Not at The Carnegie in Covington. There is absolutely nothing run-of-the-mill about The Art of Food exhibit opening Friday. The popular event is expected to attract…
Lachey’s (Review)
When a celebrity opens a restaurant, customers likely fall into two camps: those who only go there for the celeb brand, or those who actually enjoy the food, drink and ambiance of a place that happens to be helmed by a famous person. For Over-the-Rhine’s new sports bar, Lachey’s, it works both ways. Nick and…
J Bar Pizzeria (Review)
I g uess there’s no such thing as too many pizza places, at least if you judge by the seemingly never-ending parade of new ones sprouting up every month. But you’re going to have to provide something more than competently made pies to get me in the door, especially if you’re out of my usual…
Music: Into It. Over It.
If you ever get the feeling you’ve got too much going on in your life, give yourself a reality check with a glance at Evan Weiss’ resume. The Into It. Over It. frontman (often only man) has been a music fan since elementary school, falling hard for Emo in seventh grade after getting a taste…
Ohio House Continues Fight Against Common Core
The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill Feb. 11 that would allow students to advance to the next grade level regardless of their results on Common Core tests this year. While the legislation passed the House easily, it looks to be a mostly symbolic victory. The bill sponsored by State Rep. Jim Buchy, R-Greenville,…
Trade Offs
S eventy-four-year-old Pearlie Young says she likes her apartment on Chapel Street in Walnut Hills, where she has lived for four years. She and 19 others enjoy living in the building because it’s affordable and because they’ve come to know each other. Sometime in the next year, though, she and her neighbors may have to…
Swans in Bloom
S omehow, more than 30 years after debuting amid the height of the No Wave movement, Swans are making the best music of their long, twisted existence. Founder, frontman and enduring ringleader Michael Gira has finally perfected his brand of atmospheric Post Punk, which has evolved from consistently brutal to something close to beautiful. Swans…
Art: Masterpieces of Japanese Art at the Cincinnati Art Museum
When an art museum has a collection of more than 65,000 objects, it isn’t surprising that many of them wind up hidden in storage. Sometimes complete collections are stowed there, rarely if ever seen or studied. That was the case with Cincinnati Art Museum’s Japanese art when Asian Art Curator Hou-mei Sung arrived in 2002.…
Crazy & the Brains with Coconut Milk
It’s not quite accurate to say Crazy & the Brains makes Punk the old fashioned way. Although they play fast, hard, loose and loud, they also utilize a razor sharp and sugar sweet sense of Pop classicism, swooping Doo Wop harmonies and a xylophone they, uh, liberated from a source that may or may not…
Nikki Lane with Young Heirlooms
One of the great Wanda Jackson’s biographical talking points is the fact that she toured with and fleetingly dated Elvis Presley back in a time when her Rockabilly star shone as brightly as his. In a good many ways, Nikki Lane represents the 21st century manifestation of that vaunted pair’s musical DNA — she twangs…
Into It. Over It. with Kevin Devine and Laura Stevenson
If you ever get the feeling you’ve got too much going on in your life, give yourself a reality check with a glance at Evan Weiss’ resume. The Into It. Over It. frontman (often only man) has been a music fan since elementary school, falling hard for Emo in seventh grade after getting a taste…
Art: Borrowed Landscape at Whole Foods
Heine Avdal is making a short trip from Belgium to Cincinnati on Feb. 21 and 22 just to visit the Whole Foods Market in Rookwood Commons. It’s sandwiched between theatrical performances that he and his artistic organization fieldworks will be doing in Budapest and Oslo. So why exactly is he coming here to go to…
Cincinnati vs. The World 2.18.15
Millions of people in the U.S. are at risk of losing subsidized health insurance through HealthCare.gov as the Supreme Court takes up a case that challenges the legality of the Affordable Care Act. WORLD -1 Ohio has issued an order to revoke the medical license of Dr. Kurt Froehlich, a Montgomery OB/GYN who is accused…
Artist Submissions Open for 2015 MidPoint Music Festival
Musical acts interested in being considered for a showcase slot at the 14th annual MidPoint Music Festival (scheduled for Sept. 24-26 in various venues around Downtown and Over-the-Rhine) can begin submitting today. The festival — owned and operated by CityBeat — has announced a new partner for facilitating submissions, switching from Sonicbids to the locally-based…
Worst Week Ever!: Feb. 11-17
Follow This One Easy Tip to Get into Heaven! Sometimes you hear about a particular thing you don’t care about with such frequency that you wonder if you are supposed to start caring about it or if those who shape our society are just hellbent on distracting you from important things that are occurring in…
Event: One Night One Craft: Wine
Explore how science and art overlap for the perfect date night at the Contemporary Arts Center’s One Night One Craft event. A sommelier will walk attendees through the science of wine making and the art of sampling it, plus artist John Humphries will show you how to make art with less palatable wines. 6-8 p.m.…
Liar. Liar?
“I hear that Brian Williams was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live. That doesn’t sound right. I don’t know if that’s true.” — Jerry Seinfeld Ten-million-dollar baby and NBC newsman Brian Williams is guilty. He knows better than to insert himself right smack dab in the middle of the news he’s witnessed or…
Music: Hands Like Houses
Feeling angsty? Let Hands Like Houses help you fully embrace the weight of your less-than-perfect life. Hailing from Canberra, Australia, Hands Like Houses seem to want to reinvigorate the Emo scene. Full of songs about the burdens of life and love, there’s really not a more perfect band to sink into when you’re already in…
Event: People Working Cooperatively Oscars Party
In honor of the organization’s 40th anniversary, People Working Cooperatively takes its annual Oscars night party back to psychedelic during a “Hometown Hollywood 1975” event. While watching a live telecast of the annual Oscars gala, guests will enjoy a three-course dinner wrapped up in a funky ’70s theme reminiscent of the era’s groovy game shows.…
Event: Chinese New Year Celebration
Ring in the year of the sheep at Orient Wok in Fort Mitchell for its Chinese New Year dinner and celebration. You’ll get the full experience of this notable holiday with a delicious and authentic nine-course meal. There will also be a traditional Lion Dance, plenty of explosives during the firecracker celebration and many more…
Event: 20th Century Cincinnati
Everyone loves a throwback to the good old days — that much has become apparent by our sudden craving for vintage items and retro-driven designs. Vintage is the new black, and Cincinnati knows this. Fuelling our desire for nostalgia and simplicity by feeding us quality and value is the annual 20th Century Cincinnati vintage modern design…
Event: The Price is Right Live!
You probably won’t see Bob Barker or Drew Carey cruising around Cincinnati this weekend. However, The Price Is Right Live! is in town, so you could still win a BRAND. NEW. CAR! The show is an untelevised stage version of the nation’s longest-running game show, hosted by a celebrity like Marc Summers, Todd Newton or…
Event: Show Your Love Festival
Show your love for WNKU and your favorite bands will be sure to show you some love, too. Presented by the Good People Festival, 30 bands — locals plus out-of-towners Charlie Mars, Will Kimbrough and Jason Wilbur — will perform over two nights in honor of WNKU radio station’s 30 years on the air. The…
Event: The Art of Food
Celebrating the ways in which food appeals to our senses both orally and visually, The Carnegie’s ninth annual The Art of Food event and exhibition features some of our most experimental local chefs, bakers and sweets-mongers showing off their most artistically inspired creations. In addition to all the yummy eats, artist Pam Kravetz is organizing…
Event: Bockfest Sausage Queen Preliminary Contest
Sausage: A breakfast delicacy in the United States, famous as a member of the biscuit and egg trio. Its reverence does not stop there. In Cincinnati, we have our very own Sausage Queen. Cincinnati beer festival Bockfest hosts the second of four preliminary rounds of a gender-neutral pageant to name the 2015 Sausage Queen, who…
Onstage: Little Women
The story of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel from the late 1860s, Little Women, has long been woven into the American consciousness. The March family lives in refined poverty, with a dutiful father away in the Civil War and a steadfast mother raising four headstrong daughters. Their story is one of hardship and heartbreak, with…
Event: Murder on the Menu
Wash down the grim and grisly historical details of the city’s more notorious, bloody murders with a whole load of local beer and a thematic dinner menu. Washington Platform hosts Murder on the Menu, a series of unique dinners exploring some of Cincinnati’s infamous characters with talks led by Queen City History. The first dinner —…
Comedy: Adam Cayton-Holland
“I was always doing funny stuff,” says comedian Adam Cayton-Holland from his home in Denver, “but it was more writing behind-the-scenes. I wasn’t one of those guys growing up watching stand-up going, ‘That’s going to be me.’ Never in a million years did I think I’d be the guy up on stage.” At the behest…
Onstage: The Planets with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Bell’s Brewery
Boyfriend: Remember when we started dating and you realized I was the kind of girl who could rap Eminem but could also spot a Debussy within a few notes? You loved that, right? This Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, famed French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet will perform two Khachaturian pieces (the waltz from Masquerade Suite and Piano…
Morning News and Stuff
Morning y’all. I won’t be making any comments about the snow and the cold today, other than to tell you the low tomorrow is expected to be -15 degrees. Let’s compare that with past places we’ve lived or could have lived (it will be 70 degrees tomorrow in Texas, for example) and take a moment…
World Wider
HOT: World Wider It’s no secret that music sales are in decline, with full albums being particularly hard to move in this age of streaming/stealing music. What’s an artist to do? If they want to shift more albums, perhaps the answer is to switch genres. According to Billboard’s Senior Editorial Analyst Glenn Peoples, sales numbers from 2014…
Showing Love for WNKU
This weekend at The Southgate House Revival (111 E. Sixth St., Newport, southgatehouse.com), numerous Cincinnati musical acts will pay tribute to Northern Kentucky radio station WNKU (89.7 FM; wnku.org). It’s fitting and not the first time local artists have teamed up to raise money for the station, one of the very few radio outlets in…
The Art of Ink
H umans have been introducing ink to skin for thousands of years. Ötzi, the 5,300-year-old mummified iceman, had more than 60 tattoos, a series of lines created by applying charcoal to strategic puncture wounds. Explorer James Cook wrote about the body art of New Zealand’s Maori tribe in the 18th century, created by carving designs…
Big Democrat Fundraiser Backs Sittenfeld for U.S. Senate
A major Cincinnati fundraiser for the Democratic Party has put his backing behind current City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld in his run for the U.S. Senate. Cincinnati businessman Allan Berliant raised as much as $500,000 for President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012 through his network of donors both here in Cincinnati and around the country.…
The Main Squeeze with Benchwood Wyse and Nevele
I f any old fogey tries to tell you there is no soul left in modern music, sit him (or her) down in his favorite reclining chair and tell him to shut up and listen while you give him a juicy taste of The Main Squeeze. Rolling out a sound that blends progressive Funk and…
