Art: Michael Kenna FotoFocus Lecture
For the spring FotoFocus lecture, the Cincinnati Art Museum is bringing in Michael Kenna, an English-born, Seattle-based photographer whose reputation revolves around serenely calm, black-and-white landscapes, which often require long exposures to get the soft, dream-like imagery he seeks. His work is in the art museum's collection, as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum,…
Literary: David James Poissant
Author and onetime University of Cincinnati (UC) professor Brock Clarke has high praise for David James Poissant, who earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from UC in 2011: "Poissant will end up being his generation's Richard Ford: his fiction is full of big ideas, of startling insights into how we live now." Sure enough, Poissant's…
Event: Fit Tuesday
Celebrate Fat Tuesday by getting fit. The YMCA is hosting a Mardi Gras parade and hour of fitness on Fountain Square, with free fitness class samples and information about the free fitness series they’ll offer this spring at Washington Park. All YMCA locations in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky will also be offering free family and…
Music: Music Live at Lunch at Christ Church Cathedral
Looking for some lunchtime entertainment in a beautiful setting? Head to Christ Church Cathedral for the Music Live at Lunch series throughout the month of March. These free weekly concerts are held in the Centennial Chapel, and while they don’t include lunch, you’re encouraged to bring your own. The first concert touches on the spirit…
Art: The Residents Opening Reception at Live(In) Gallery
This First Saturday, artists and current residents of 2159 Central Ave., in Brighton, Molly Donnermeyer and Amy Scarpello, are inaugurating their alternative arts space, Live(In) Gallery, with an exhibition of photography, installation, performance and auditory selections titled The Residents. This maiden show includes the work of the aforementioned resident artists as well as those who…
Event: Cincinnati Home & Garden Show
Whether you’re a homeowner or just fantasizing about the day you will become one, the Cincinnati Home and Garden Show has helped thousands of people get their abode ready for spring since 1969. There will be landscapers, interior designers, contractors, specialists and more, all under one roof. Better Business Bureau seminars throughout the week will…
Event: Spring into Health
Jungle Jim's and Mercy Health Fairfield Hospital have joined forces to create the health and wellness event Spring Into Health. Mercy staff will provide free health screenings and more than 40 food vendors will showcase their natural food products. There will be stilt walkers, a giant operation game and face painters for the kids. That’s…
Music: Hellfyre Club with Busdriver, Nocandp, Open Mike Eagle and Milo
If you’re a fan of independent, progressive Hip Hop, pack your overnight backpack and camp out at the Northside Tavern this weekend, because Friday and Saturday night the club hosts some of the best local and national acts currently creeping up from the underground. After Friday’s “bon voyage” show by local Hip Hop trio Counterfeit…
Event: Maple Syrup Festival
As spring approaches, Hueston Woods is gearing up to tap their maple trees and celebrate the sweet tradition that is their annual Maple Syrup Festival. During the first two weekends in March, the Maple Syrup Festival will celebrate the sugary substance with pancake breakfasts and free maple syrup hiking tours of the park’s Sugar Bush…
Event: A’cat’emy Awards
The Ohio Alleycat Resource & Spay/Neuter Clinic (OAR) will hold its fourth annual A’cat’emy awards Saturday at The Phoenix downtown. Fox19 anchor Jacki Jing will host the fundraiser, with live and silent auction bidding. Not only will guests have the opportunity to win wine country getaways or a TV, but also the “naming rights” to…
Art: Hit Up (The Art of the Tag) Opening Reception
If one accepts graffiti’s grand gesture of the elaborate, multi-hued and spray-painted work as “masterpiece,” then tagging could be considered graffiti’s “Vitruvian Man.” A “tag”— a comparatively monochrome, simple alias of an artist who gets up on the street illegally — is thus a kind of primordial blueprint for future public inscriptions. In what will…
Event: Assorted Mardi Gras Parties
Cincinnati is partying New Orleans-style this week with an extravaganza of bead throwin’, crawfish eatin’, mask wearin’ Mardi Gras events. Keep calm and parade on this weekend at the 18th annual MainStrasse Village Mardi Gras party with the Big Head Parade Friday and the Grande Parade Saturday. Spice up both nights with Cajun food and…
Comedy: Michael Palascak
Like many young comedians, Michael Palascak struggled early on and had to live with his parents for a while after college. “A lot of people feel bad about moving in with their parents and asking them for money,” he told an audience on The Late Show with David Letterman. “I don’t. The only time I…
Onstage: Les Misérables
Are you ready to head for the barricades? The musical theater program at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) will meet you there with their staging of Les Misérables. Les Miz tells the story of the virtuous Jean Valjean, who is imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread and spends a lifetime paying…
Event: Bourbon 101 with Ginny Tonic
Tonic Tours’ Ginny Tonic typically guides her guests off the beaten path to the best micro-produced alcohol Cincinnati and Lexington, Ky., have to offer. This time, Tonic is bringing a sampling of her favorite bourbon straight to you. Head to The Symphony Hotel to get schooled with Bourbon 101, where she’ll serve up five different…
Music: Marshall Crenshaw and The Bottle Rockets
The show occurring at Southgate House Revival Wednesday night is more than just a Roots Rock/Americana marriage made in heaven. It’s downright Rock & Roll nirvana. The Bottle Rockets, a great American band finally getting its due, opens the show and then serves as backup for Marshall Crenshaw, singer/songwriter and melodic rocker par excellence. Marshall Crenshaw and The Bottle…
Music: Empires
Every show Empires has played in Cincinnati, it has been memorable. The Chicago quintet’s Queen City debut was at 2010’s MidPoint festival, which guitarist Tom Conrad recalls thusly: “I remember everyone being extremely wasted and playing really late, and walking away thinking, ‘I don’t know what this was but I’d love to come back.’” The…
Music: Flogging Molly
Flogging Molly is returning to Bogart’s yet again, but it will be a little bit bittersweet this time. The jarringly wonderful Celtic Punk band says its current “Green 17” tour — an annual countdown to St. Patrick’s Day — will be its last. The group says it’s the 10th and final round of this specific…
Class: Landscaping for the Homeowner
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is hosting a series of classes and lectures on landscaping for homeowners. The classes cover a variety of topics and provide insight on the design, preparation and plant selection of home gardens. There are only a couple of classes left in the 10-week series (ending March 12), including Wednesday’s…
City Pursues Domestic Partner Registry for Same-Sex Couples
The mayor and a supermajority of City Council backs efforts to establish a domestic partner registry for same-sex couples in Cincinnati, Councilman Chris Seelbach’s office announced Tuesday. If adopted by the city, the registry will allow same-sex couples to gain legal recognition through the city. That would let same-sex couples apply for domestic partner benefits…
Morning News and Stuff
Gov. John Kasich gave his State of the State speech last night, promising to combat Ohio’s heroin epidemic, cut taxes and create jobs across the state. The speech didn’t promise any new, huge proposals; instead, it focused on expanding the approach Kasich has taken to governing Ohio in the past four years. Democrats criticized the…
‘Downton Abbey’ Season Four Finale
Oh, blah. I don’t know about you, but I was expecting more out of Sunday's finale of Downton Abbey Season Four. The entire season, in general, seems to have lost its touch. Moments that used to flow together now seem forced with excessive violin string plucks. And have I mentioned I’m still grieving for Matthew?…
Flogging Molly
Flogging Molly is returning to Bogart’s yet again, but it will be a little bit bittersweet this time. The jarringly wonderful Celtic Punk band says its current “Green 17” tour — an annual countdown to St. Patrick’s Day — will be its last. The group says it’s the 10th and final round of this specific…
Empires
Every show Empires has played in Cincinnati, it has been memorable. The Chicago quintet’s Queen City debut was at 2010’s MidPoint festival, which guitarist Tom Conrad recalls thusly: “I remember everyone being extremely wasted and playing really late, and walking away thinking, ‘I don’t know what this was but I’d love to come back.’” The…
Marshall Crenshaw and The Bottle Rockets
The show occurring at Southgate House Revival Wednesday night is more than just a Roots Rock/Americana marriage made in heaven. It’s downright Rock & Roll nirvana. The Bottle Rockets, a great American band finally getting its due, opens the show and then serves as backup for Marshall Crenshaw, singer/songwriter and melodic rocker par excellence. From…
Poll: Ohio Moving Left on Social Issues
Ohioans are moving left on marijuana and same-sex marriage, according to a poll released Monday by Quinnipiac University. The poll found an overwhelming majority — 87 percent — of Ohioans support legalizing marijuana for medical uses. About 51 percent support allowing adults to legally possess a small amount of the drug. And 83 percent agree…
Morning News and Stuff
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted on Friday ruled that the Hamilton County Board of Elections can move to a former hospital site at Mount Airy after the 2016 election, but whether early voting moves along with the Board of Elections needs to be resolved separately. The decision does little to resolve the dispute between…
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Review)
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark ponders his existence in one of the most famous soliloquies in the history of theater: “To be or not to be — that is the question.” He struggles to understand what he should be doing and what his life means, how he is to cope with the “slings…
Trending Topics
Each week our intern Amber will be exploring what Cincinnatians are interested in by scouring the local Twitter trends and reporting on what she’s found. From serious tweets to goofy hashtags, she’ll highlight what Cincy’s been buzzing about. So get to tweeting, folks. #TheWalkingDead Either you love it or you hate this zombie show —…
Your Weekend To Do List: 2/21-2/23
Mardi Gras — aka Fat Tuesday — may not be until March 4, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait to get your pre-Lenten partying on. This month’s Walk on Woodburn channels Bourbon Street with music performances by The Hot Magnolias and Ed Oxley; Creole cuisine from New Orleans To Go and Kitchen 452;…
Cincinnati Featured in National Geographic Traveler
"As much of America decamped for the suburbs or the coasts, artists, craftspeople, and entrepreneurs rebuilt entire Cincinnati neighborhoods alongside impassioned longtimers," reads an article from the April 2014 issue of National Geographic Traveler. Cincinnati is more and more getting recognition for our renaissance attitude in national media, and this article touches on everything from…
Stage Door: Options Abound
I’m not making up a story when I suggest you could be charmed by Mary Zimmerman’s Arabian Nights at Northern Kentucky University. After all, her play is about telling tales: Scheherazade, the latest bride of a cruel king who has a history of marrying and executing his wives, survives by stringing him along with stories…
Bunbury Music Festival Makes Lineup Announcement
Last night, music fans at venues in four cities around the region (Newport, Columbus, Indianapolis and Lexington) got a sneak peek at some of the artists slated to appear at this year’s Bunbury Music Festival, which returns to Cincinnati’s riverfront parks July 11-13. Last night, fans at the launch events tweeted out some of the…
Ryan Santos of Please to Speak at Next Creative Mornings
CreativeMornings, the free monthly breakfast lecture series, offers cities around the world a chance to celebrate their local creative communities and create a space for like-minded individuals to gather and discuss — and have breakfast. CreativeMornings/Cincinnati is one of more than 68 chapters, spread across the globe. "Every month, we’re challenged to pick a speaker…
Income Inequality Rises in Ohio
Income inequality vastly grew in Ohio and other states between 1979 and 2011, but Ohio actually fared better than most other states, according to a Feb. 19 report from the Economic Policy Institute and the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN). Ohio’s top 1 percent saw their inflation-adjusted income grow by roughly 70 percent between…
‘McClainica’ to Benefit Family of Late Local Musician
In November 2013, Cincinnati’s Punk Rock scene lost one of their own when Dave McClain, a former member of several local outfits (including Martin Luther and the Kings and The Zvills), passed away. On that November night, a wife lost her husband, children lost their father and an entire music scene lost a brother. So…
Morning News and Stuff
City Council watered down Mayor John Cranley’s parking plan to just two proposals: upgrading parking meters and increased enforcement. Council and public opposition ultimately proved too much for increasing neighborhood rates and expanded evening hours at major hubs. The changes mean less revenue for the city but reduced parking costs for residents. Still, with the…
Coffee Scene Unites to Help Injured Barista
In January, Deeper Roots Coffee Roasters held a fundraising event for BLOC Coffee Company manager Rhett Harkins, who fell 60 feet while hiking in Red River Gorge in December. It took 20 men and eight hours to get Harkins out alive. He has since undergone multiple surgeries and is recovering well, but he can't work…
Considering WCPO’s Paywall
WCPO.com installed its promised paywall for some online stories. First month, it’s only a penny. An initial annual fee is discounted. The only question is, “Is it worth it?” And even if it is, will readers pay for what was free? When it announced the plan, owner Scripps said WCPO.com would be the first TV…
This Land Is Your Land
Florida is no place for black teenage boys to grow old. Jordan Russell Davis would have turned 19 Sunday. Trayvon Benjamin Martin would have turned 19 on Feb. 5. Both were dead at 17, their shared experience an eternally stopped clock and an eerily magical black-numbered age. That, and the fact that their names will…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
Miley Cyrus kicked off her Bangerz tour in expected fashion: with a mini-Britney, a gigantic phallic hot dog, the return of the infamous foam finger and Miley entering the stage via a giant Miley head, sliding down a giant Miley tongue. Here’s a look at this recent performance of “Party in the USA,” basically a…
Music: Snoop Dogg/Snoop Lion
In late 2012, Snoop claimed in a Reddit AMA session that he smoked a staggering 81 blunts every day. Let’s explore what it means to smoke that much* in preparation for the Reggae rookie/Hip Hop veteran’s performance at Bogart’s this week. A mere mortal’s blunt weighs 1.2 grams but, judging by the size of the…
Music: Sebadoh
With J Mascis’ songwriting dominating the releases of Dinosaur Jr., bassist Lou Barlow began putting his own songs to tape, eventually giving his “side project” the name Sebadoh. Barlow and bandmate Eric Gaffney self-released a couple cassettes before one of them, The Freed Man, received an official release on Homestead Records in 1989. Sebadoh’s Homestead debut…
Music: Gregory Alan Isakov
It seems a little early (or maybe late) for a Gregory Alan Isakov concert. His warm voice is more on par with a concert in the grass on an Indian summer evening. Still, we should be happy to have him in town whenever we can get him. His fifth album, last year’s The Weatherman, sounds like…
Music: Willie Sugarcapps
Recorded on a porch and produced by the band along with Grammy winner Trina Shoemaker, Willie Sugarcapps’ eponymous 2013 debut sounds every bit as natural and unforced as its origin. Given their ramshackle evolution and individual schedules, the band eschewed collaborative songwriting in favor of each member bringing songs to the session. The group’s identity…
Onstage: 4000 Miles
Amy Herzog’s 2011 play 4000 Miles opened last week and runs through March 9 at the Cincinnati Playhouse. In Herzog’s dramedy, a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize, Leo doesn’t know his feisty grandmother Vera very well. She’s 91; he’s 21 and hasn’t seen her in 10 years. She has spent her life in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village…
Dance: /SHIFT/
Brainstorming various aspects of the concept of time marked the impetus of MamLuft&Co. Dance’s most recent work, /SHIFT/, premiering at the Aronoff Center this weekend. /SHIFT/ begins with suggestions of a catastrophic event, albeit an undefined one that has already taken place before the curtain even rises. It could have been an apocalypse, a change of power, an…
Literary: Susan Crandall
Since the publication of Noblesville, Ind., author Susan Crandall’s Whistling Past the Graveyard, readers have been falling in love with both the novel and its precocious 9-year-old narrator, Starla Claudelle. For Crandall, the award-winning author of nine previous novels, this release is a departure of sorts: telling a morality tale that echoes the works of both…
Music: Voodoo Loons
Eclectic Indie/Alt Rock trio Voodoo Loons returns to the stage this week to celebrate the release of its new album, The Criminal Ear. It’s the second full-length from the band that counts Donegal, Ireland, and Cincinnati as its hometowns (singer/songwriter/guitarist Dennis O’Hagan is a dual citizen and the band has performed on both sides of the Atlantic). The new album…
Upcoming Dining Events & Cooking Classes
Here are some upcoming cooking classes and dining events in the Queen City. We're now publishing them in the paper and online, so you can see what's happening and have time to register. Cooking classes frequently sell-out, so this list doesn't guarantee space is still open BUT you can see what area institutions are offering.…
Untangling the Oscar Race
While I am not known for my Oscar handicapping capabilities, let me go out on a limb here and state that this year’s telecast will offer few if any real surprises in the four performance categories. I firmly stand behind the following predictions: Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club; Best Actress: Cate Blanchett…
Reflecting Life
As the March 2 date for this year’s Academy Awards approaches, and with it the growing suspense over who will win what, Nick Clooney follows from his Augusta, Ky., home with special interest. It isn’t just that a film with his son George in a supporting role — Gravity, directed by Alfonso Cuarón — is…
The Last of the Unjust
Claude Lanzmann, director of Shoah, uncovers and presents the story of Benjamin Murmelstein, the last president of the Theresienstadt Jewish Council. Theresienstadt, as a place, holds the tragic distinction of being a key part of the propaganda machine created by Adolf Eichmann, because it was dubbed the “model ghetto,” when, in actuality, it was the…
Pompeii
Paul W.S. Anderson (the maestro of mayhem behind the Resident Evil franchise, as well as one-offs like AVP: Alien vs. Predator and the remake of Death Race) seemingly wants to get into the natural disaster leveling business of Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow and 2012) and even Mel Gibson (Apocalypto) with this race against…
3 Days To Kill
The career resurgence of Kevin Costner continues under the direction of McG (the one-two punch of Charlie’s Angels and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle) with the stoic one playing a dying top-notch Secret Service agent who has retired so that he can spend his last few months with his estranged daughter (Hailee Steinfeld), but is suddenly…
The ‘Broad’ Couple
Comedy Central really packs in familiar hilarity on Wednesday nights. South Park reruns kick off the evening (Season 18 is coming this fall); followed by popular slacker comedy Workaholics (now in its fourth season, each of its stars have seen outside success individually); The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; The Colbert Report; and the very…
The ‘Secret’ Is Out as Elizabeth Olsen Continues to Attract Attention
One day soon, the narrative throughout the media will coalesce around our first impressions of Elizabeth Olsen. We will attempt to write about her, as if in hushed whispers, full of awe. “Do you remember seeing her in Martha Marcy May Marlene?” we will ask our readers, prodding them to recall that this was the…
Irish/American Voodoo Loons Celebrate Second Album Release
Eclectic Indie/Alt Rock trio Voodoo Loons returns to the stage this week to celebrate the release of its new album, The Criminal Ear. It’s the second full-length from the band that counts Donegal, Ireland, and Cincinnati as its hometowns (singer/songwriter/guitarist Dennis O’Hagan is a dual citizen and the band has performed on both sides of…
Looking at the Past Through a Child’s Eye
Since the publication of Noblesville, Ind., author Susan Crandall’s Whistling Past the Graveyard, readers have been falling in love with both the novel and its precocious 9-year-old narrator, Starla Claudelle.For Crandall, the award-winning author of nine previous novels, this release is a departure of sorts: telling a morality tale that echoes the works of both…
Obamacare Enrollment Improves
The federal government reported slightly better numbers in January for Obamacare’s once-troubled online marketplaces, but Ohio and the nation still fall far short of key demographic goals. For the first time since HealthCare.gov’s glitch-ridden rollout, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) numbers show the amount of new enrollees actually beat projections. About…
Report: Kasich’s Tax Proposal Favors Wealthy
Gov. John Kasich’s income tax proposal would excessively favor Ohio’s wealthiest, an analysis from Policy Matters Ohio and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found. Specifically, the proposal would cut taxes on average by $2 for the bottom 20 percent of Ohioans, $48 for the middle 20 percent and $2,515 for the top 1…
Niches Get Stitches
Sean “Scary” Garner, one half of Cincinnati-based Black Signal, claims his Electronica project got its moniker from garbled, indecipherable transmissions from outer space. It’s a fitting title given the unique brand of Electronic music that Garner and bandmate Matt Ogden have been assembling. If NASA is hoping to get some answers from those transmissions, maybe…
Commons at Alaska Leaders to Meet with Avondale Residents
The group heading a supportive housing project in Avondale announced Feb. 14 that it will initiate monthly “good neighbor” meetings to address concerns about the facility. The first meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 25 at the Church of the Living God at 434 Forest Ave. National Church Residences (NCR) says the meetings will…
Faith and Praise
M ost native Jamaicans I’ve met are possessed of a similar quality, namely a Zen-like balance between an intense drive to do the best possible job regardless of the task at hand and an almost blissful serenity borne of the faith that all things are possible with God, or Jah. That quality radiates from Reggae…
County Should Accept Responsible Bidder Law
Politicians love playing homage to jobs and economic mobility, but it’s very rare they actually do anything about either issue. With Cincinnati’s responsible bidder law, the Democratic majority on City Council set itself apart from the typical political mold and actually acted on the two biggest problems facing the country today. There’s been a lot…
Shifts in Mind, Body and Spirit
Brainstorming various aspects of the concept of time marked the impetus of MamLuft&Co. Dance’s most recent work,/SHIFT/, premiering at the Aronoff Center this weekend. “First, we cast our net really wide,” founder and artistic director Jeanne Mam-Luft says, speaking about the company’s creative and highly collaborative approach. “We asked ourselves, ‘How do you measure time?…
Double Parking
M ayor John Cranley on Feb. 12 officially unveiled his plan for Cincinnati’s parking meters, lots and garages, providing the first possible replacement for the parking privatization plan that Cranley and the newly elected City Council effectively killed in November. Cranley says the major goal of his plan, which is based on a memo from…
Gregory Alan Isakov with Josh Ritter
It seems a little early (or maybe late) for a Gregory Alan Isakov concert. His warm voice is more on par with a concert in the grass on an Indian summer evening. Still, we should be happy to have him in town whenever we can get him. Of all the strapping acoustic guitar players in…
Tricks of the Trade
I f you do the math, Gary Collins has been skateboarding longer than a lot of the kids currently skating on a professional level have even been alive. But that doesn’t mean he’s not out there with those same guys, skating around the city — both for fun and as a mode of transportation — working…
Willie Sugarcapps with Brigitte DeMeyer
For the past couple of years, the Blue Moon Farm in Silverhill, Ala., has hosted a musical genre stew dubbed The Frog Pond, a house concert comprised of whoever happens to be in the house at any given moment. Luminaries like Mary Gauthier, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Malcolm Holcombe and Randall Bramblett have all dropped in,…
Sebadoh with Octagrape
With J Mascis’ songwriting dominating the releases of Dinosaur Jr., bassist Lou Barlow began putting his own songs to tape, eventually giving his “side project” the name Sebadoh. Barlow and bandmate Eric Gaffney self-released a couple cassettes before one of them, The Freed Man, received an official release on Homestead Records in 1989. Sebadoh’s Homestead…
Morning News and Stuff
Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s infant mortality rates dropped to record lows in 2013, but the city and county’s rates of infant deaths remain far above the national average. Over the past five years, the city’s infant mortality rate hit 12.4 deaths per 1,000 live births and the county’s rate reached 9.9 deaths per 1,000 live…
Snoop Lion/Dogg
With so much drama in the 5-1-3, it’s kinda nice hosting Snoop D-O-double-G who, somehow, some way, claims he smokes 81 blunts, like, every single day. Apologies for the dated “Gin and Juice” homage, as “Snoop Lion” is the preferred stage name for the newly converted Rastafarian — whose spiritual pilgrimage to Jamaica was well…
Bunbury Lineup Launch with The Ready Stance, The Yugos and Heavy Hinges
Just a few acts — including Fall Out Boy and Paramore — have been announced for this summer’s Bunbury Music Festival, which returns for its third year along the riverfront July 11-13. This Thursday, Bunbury and CincyMusic.com will offer your first chance to hear about the next round of artists with a special free “Lineup…
