Chasing James Brooks’ ‘How Do You Know’
After weeks of neglect, I finally caught James L. Brooks' How Do You Know at Danbarry Western Hills last week. (You know I was keen to catch it if I endured Danbarry WH, a second-run/rate movie house that hasn't been refurbished since its opening more than a decade ago). Released amid the crowded, late-December awards…
Romney, Huckabee Top Poll
Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are the top choices among 10 Republicans who've expressed interest in seeking the party's presidential nomination in 2012, according to a new poll. A Harris poll released today finds that Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, tying with Huckabee, the ex-Arkansas governor, among all voters surveyed by the poll. Each received…
Art Museum Scores Big with Wedding Gown Show
Cincinnati Art Museum has just released attendance figures for the recently closed Wedded Perfection: Two Centuries of the Wedding Gown, and it was a blockbuster. The exhibit, which ran Oct. 9-Jan. 30, drew 63,176 visitors, making it the biggest CAM exhibit since Petra: The Lost City of Stone drew 62,203 people in the 2004-2005 season.—-…
Swizzle Soiree 2011
RSVP here on Facebook today Join in celebrating good times at Lunar, Cincinnati's hottest new disco lounge! Ben Davis of Bad Veins and Yusef Quotah of You You're Awesome are laying down the dance grooves. And, yes, you'll find complimentary Heineken, Absolut Vodka and Palomino! Location: Lunar is on the southwest corner of Fifth and…
Marcia Hafif Finds Sanctuary at U-turn
What I like best about the art that is often called “minimalist” is that when it’s done with commitment and devotion, intellect and compassion, there’s nothing simple about it. A painting that — to paraphrase Seinfeld — is about nothing becomes about so much more. It transcends subject matter and transforms into a statement on…
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (Review)
The fifth edition of David Thomson’s The New Biographical Dictionary of Film was published in late October. I finally got around to cracking it open a few weeks ago … and I’ve yet to close it. Thomson’s 1,076-page tome is as addictive as ever, bound to keep readers engrossed as they move from entries that…
Onstage: The Odd Couple
If you haven’t ventured to Covington’s Carnegie Center for a show at the Otto M. Budig Theatre, you’re overlooking a pleasant evening’s entertainment. Having missed the opening of The Odd Couple a week earlier, I watched Neil Simon’s classic comedy with a very respectable crowd that filled the theater’s downstairs seating. I talked to the…
Events: Recycling and Landfill Tour
Cincinnati Parks is hosting a tour of the Rumpke landfill for home school families. Children and their parents will learn about how recycling and reuse happens in nature at the LaBoiteaux Woods Nature Center (5400 Lanius Lane, College Hill), break for lunch and continue on to a landfill tour at Mt. Rumpke. Programming is intended…
The Roommate (Review)
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Single White Female redux would be a better title for Christian E. Christiansen’s The Roommate, except any connection with Barbet Schroeder’s film might lead audiences to believe that The Roommate has a hint of credibility, which it most certainly does not. This is stalker glam dressed up for the college…
Events: V-Day at UC
When you think of the words victory, valentine and vagina, what comes to mind? I'm really hoping you said V-Day. If you didn't, you need to get your mind out of the gutter and then head over to the University of Cincinnati at 7 p.m. Friday to check out their rendition of The Vagina Monologues.…
Music: Galactic
Galactic has always been the shifting sum of its evolving parts. In the beginning, the band was a synthesis of the Washington, D.C., Go Go scene (courtesy of guitarist/D.C. transplants Jeff Raines and bassist Robert Mercurio) and the wide-ranging influences of the band’s New Orleans birthplace (by way of keyboardist Rich Vogel, saxophonist Ben Ellman…
Events: Roland S. Martin Freedom Talk
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center continues its celebration of Black History Month with a visit from Roland S. Martin, a veteran journalist and author whose latest book, the verbosely titled The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House as Originally Reported by Roland S. Martin, was just published. A contributor to CNN's…
Onstage: Cincinnati Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Although it’s closer to the middle of winter than the middle of summer, now’s the perfect season for a dreamlike getaway just in time for Valentine’s Day. Cincinnati Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream — presented at the Aronoff Center this weekend — offers a delightful chance to escape winter doldrums. Originally choreographed by the Ballet’s…
City Council and Keller’s IGA
[LOSER] CITY COUNCIL: How can you tell when an idea is really, really bad? When it brings together people to oppose it who otherwise are typically political foes, that's how. Mayor Mark Mallory, police union President Kathy Harrell and local NAACP President Christopher Smitherman all are united against City Council's proposal to consider letting the…
Music: Music for the Mountains
Poets have long understood the metaphorical power of music to move mountains, but Mark Utley hopes his new compilation album, Music From the Mountains, has the literal power to stop mountains from moving. Years ago, major coal mining operations abandoned shaft mining and embraced strip mining and mountaintop removal (or MTR), where Appalachian hilltops are…
Prosecutor Bucks Responsibility, Alters Own History
We're not sure if Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters pays The Enquirer to handle his public relations, but he should. In a stunning example of Deters spinning his previous statements and the newspaper ignoring its earlier article on the topic, The Enquirer reported Feb. 2 that Deters was angry about a contract approved by county…
The Boombox Project (Review)
When I had first heard about Lyle Owerko's The Boombox Project, I was relieved to find some validation that I wasn't the only over-the-hill b-boy fascinated with suitcase-sized portable cassette stereos. While vintage portables routinely show up in commercials and retro-styled music videos, seeing a boombox on YouTube today versus having owned one back in…
The Odd Couple (Review)
If you haven’t ventured to Covington’s Carnegie Center for a show at the Otto M. Budig Theatre, you’re overlooking a pleasant evening’s entertainment. Having missed the opening of The Odd Couple a week earlier, I watched Neil Simon’s classic comedy with a very respectable crowd that filled the theater’s downstairs seating. I talked to the…
Art: The Way We Are Now: Selections from the 21c Collection
Have you noticed that the Cincinnati Art Museum is becoming a pretty exciting — provocative, even — place lately, edgy and with a sense of experimentation, rather than stodgy and risk-adverse? The next bold move in shaking things up is The Way We Are Now: Selections from the 21c Collection, now on view in CAM’s…
Me, Winter and Acts of Kindness
I’m a diabetic, and because of it I have neuropathy (nerve damage) in my feet and legs. Since last spring, I’ve been walking with a cane. That’s all been said here before. Walking around this winter in the snow has been a bit tricky at times. With that nerve damage in my feet, I can’t…
Comedy: Rory Scovel
“It’s kind of eclectic,” comedian Rory Scovel says of his act. “I have a lot on drugs like pot and mushrooms. I do some political jokes, but never anything serious. I would describe my act as very silly and very non-serious.” The Greenville, S.C., native got into comedy at an open mic poetry night. “I…
Onstage: Fiddler on the Roof
The classic musical Fiddler on the Roof has moved audiences to “happiness and tears” for almost a half-century. The current touring production onstage at the Aronoff Center has the capacity to do that, even though it’s a bare-bones rendition with an uneven cast. The fact is that Jerry Bock’s music and Sheldon Harnick’s lyrics, not…
Sanctum (Review)
p { margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; } James Cameron lends his immense clout to this production about a team of spelunkers with all sorts of internal drama who descend into a seemingly bottomless pit and have to join forces in order to survive when a raging river floods the cave system. The peril feels real…
Art: For the Birds at NKU
In the second episode of the new IFC comedy show Portlandia, Fred Armisen exclaims, “We put birds on things!” in a hilarious sketch about the ubiquity of bird-decorated arts and crafts in hipster culture. Like Armisen, Northern Kentucky University’s Director of Exhibitions David Knight has picked up on this trend. The NKU Gallery’s new exhibition…
The Here and Now
Have you noticed that the Cincinnati Art Museum is becoming a pretty exciting — provocative, even — place lately, edgy and with a sense of experimentation, rather than stodgy and risk-adverse? The next bold move in shaking things up is The Way We Are Now: Selections from the 21c Collection, now on view in CAM’s…
Music: The Movement
It’s difficult maintaining a band in turbulent times, and no one knows that better than Philadelphia-based Rock/Reggae/Hip Hop group The Movement. The band started in Columbia, S.C., with childhood friends/high school bandmates Jordan Miller and Josh Swain. Upon Swain’s 2002 return from college, the pair, inspired by everything from Sublime to Pink Floyd, began writing…
Events: Murder Mystery Valentine’s Day Dinner
Break away from the cliché Valentine’s Day scene and support Stop AIDS Cincinnati at Below Zero Lounge as it hosts its first Murder Mystery Dinner. Held on the infamous night of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, this mystery production is sure to bring out the detective in you. As you indulge in a meal you…
Art: Tony Becker at Prairie
Artist Tony Becker worked with some 500 children and adults from 15 schools and community organizations to create small origami houses that encapsulated each one's vision of a "dream shelter." Each participant also produced a small written statement explaining the concept behind his or her creation, thus shedding light on each one's notion of what…
Events: Cincy Winter Beerfest
There are a few things you’ll need to bring with you this weekend to have a good time at the Duke Energy Convention Center — thirst, a rather large bladder and a taste for excellence. Dubbed “The Best Party of the Winter,” Cincy Beerfest returns for its fourth consecutive year of celebrating Greater Cincinnati’s expanding…
Onstage: Nixon in China Live Broadcast
In 1983, the young maverick director Peter Sellars convinced composer John Adams to write on opera based on Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to China. “I realized that it was a perfect idea,” Adams says. “It was right to find our own mythology in our own contemporary history.” What could be more outsized, more operatic, than…
Feb. 2-8: Worst Week Ever!
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } WEDNESDAY FEB. 2 If you've ever put a bag of frozen chicken into an oven at a college party, dialed it up to 400 degrees and then responded to the first angry resident with a believable, “Wha happened?!?” then you know what it was like to be a Republican today.…
Putting the Brakes On
If you're one of the nearly 60,000 people who ride Greater Cincinnati's Metro bus system every day to get to school, go to work, buy groceries or for some other purpose, you might soon have to make other travel plans. The board that oversees Metro voted Feb. 1 to reject a state fact-finder's recommendations about…
Making OTR’s Makeover Easier
On some prominent streets in Over-the-Rhine — like Vine Street, Main Street and their adjacent arteries — large-scale redevelopment projects are helping bring new vibrancy to the face of the dilapidated neighborhood. Since 2004, the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) has left its mark throughout the area in the form of vibrantly painted, structurally…
Music: Tokyo Police Club
Tokyo Police Club will probably deliver another EP of Electro-laced Indie Rock in late 2011, but most of this year brings month-long tours and time for jamming. So says guitarist Josh Hook, who checked in by phone from Austin, Tex., more than 1,500 miles from his home in Toronto. “It might be an album, it…
Worst Day Ever!
Brennaman not afraid to speak his mind: Such was the headline of Monday's Charleston Daily Mail describing a keynote speech at a Marshall University baseball banquet during which Reds' announcer Marty Brennaman said the president of the university must be “queer” for softball. Brennaman's point was that only a homosexual would choose to spend $2.5…
Black Eyed to My Knees
Like the crass, overblown venue where it took place, the 2011 Super Bowl halftime show was a soul-numbing spectacle that left nearly everyone at the party I attended staring quizzically at the 50-inch HD television as a group of tone-deaf aliens (plus Slash; what won't he stoop to these days?) hit the stage at Cowboys…
Kim Taylor’s Playing at Your House?
Artists today are constantly looking for new and different ways to present their music to the world, many embracing the D.I.Y. approach amidst the ruins of a crumbling music industry and the decline of the U.S. economy overall. But well before the recession, Folk artists and other singer/songwriters discovered an interesting way of touring that…
Media Culpable In Vaccine Controversy
It’s not often that I write about journalists having blood on our hands. Our willingness to aid foes of the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) childhood vaccination, however, is such a case. When, in the name objectivity, we treat all sides equally in this battle between medicine and belief, we enlist in the Flat Earth Society.…
Worst Day Ever!
The Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl, leaving Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger reportedly looking all “winded and rapey” on the sideline. Christina Aquilera messed up the “Star Spangled Banner” before the game, later attributing the mistake to being “lost in the power of the song.” A few hundred fans who…
Brunner Touts New Watchdog PAC
Just a few weeks after leaving office, ex-Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is trying to raise awareness about a political action committee (PAC) she helped create while campaigning last year for the U.S. Senate nomination. Courage PAC is designed to increase grassroots advocacy and citizen activism on several issues, and perform a watchdog role…
Friday Movie Roundup: Last Call for Coppola
It's another slow week in movieland, as only one of the four new releases was made available to us in advance, and that one, The Company Men, delivered mixed results. Rather than whine about something we have no control over, let's turn your attention to a film that sneaked into the Kenwood Theatre last week:…
Cake, Edie Brickell, The Decemberists and Social Distortion
Meet the new year, same as the old year. What, me behind? How could it be otherwise? As far as my planning calendar is concerned, I’ve got all the time in the world to get everything done. In its practical application, my planning calendar might just as well be written on toilet paper. In the…
The Company Men (Review)
The 2008 economic meltdown is no doubt ripe for dramatic interpretation. John Wells, the bigwig TV producer/writer behind ER, The West Wing and the new Southland, steps up with his take on the Death of the American Dream and corporate greed run amok, but he does so armed with a righteous indignation that is only…
Galactic
Galactic has always been the shifting sum of its evolving parts. In the beginning, the band was a synthesis of the Washington, D.C., Go Go scene (courtesy of guitarist/D.C. transplants Jeff Raines and bassist Robert Mercurio) and the wide-ranging influences of the band’s New Orleans birthplace (by way of keyboardist Rich Vogel, saxophonist Ben Ellman…
The Movement
It’s difficult maintaining a band in turbulent times, and no one knows that better than Philadelphia-based Rock/Reggae/Hip Hop group The Movement. The band started in Columbia, S.C., with childhood friends/high school bandmates Jordan Miller and Josh Swain. Upon Swain’s 2002 return from college, the pair, inspired by everything from Sublime to Pink Floyd, began writing…
Bus Workers Threaten to Strike
Now that the agency that operates Cincinnati's Metro bus system has rejected a state fact-finder's recommendations about a labor contract with its workers, the union says it might go on strike. The board that governs the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) voted 11-1 Tuesday to reject the fact-finder's recommendations, calling them too expensive and…
Cincinnati Library Rules!
I like books, magazines and movies. I, as you might have guessed by now, like newspapers, too. It should then come as no surprise that the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County is one of my favorite places on planet Earth and that it continues to offer a smorgasbord of information, almost all of…
New Kentucky Struts Album’s Extended Release
Northern Kentucky Americana/Country/Folk Rock band The Kentucky Struts have been at work on their new album, The Year of the Horse, since the start of the year. But you won’t be able to hear the full album until December. No, the band hasn’t gone all Axl Rose-obsessive in the studio. It’s a part of the…
A Look at Kandi Burruss
Kandi Burruss is a mogul amongst the entertainment ranks. Although she has reached personal fame through her recent starring role in Bravo’s hit franchise, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Kandi has been a part of pop music culture for a couple decades. She started as part of the platinum-selling group Xscape and then went onto…
Mary Magdalen House
Take a look inside the Mary Magdalen House with photos and interviews from the staff and volunteers.
Worst Day Ever!
Senate Democrats yesterday were forced to vote against the GOP-led repeal of the health care law. It basically went like this: “No.” “No.” “No.” 51 times. Forty seven Republicans said, “Do it.” Republicans today say the vote was a success because they were all able to go on the record with their feelings on the…
The Baseball Project’s Pete Rose Song
In September of last year, The Baseball Project — an all-star band featuring Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows), Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate) and Wynn’s wife, drummer Linda Pitmon — publicly debuted its song “Pete Rose Way” in Greater Cincinnati when it performed at the Southgate House. The band (which, as the name…
John Boehner, Tabloid Cover Boy
Less than a month after he was sworn into office as House Speaker, the long-rumored extramarital affairs of John Boehner have landed him on the cover of the National Enquirer. Boehner is featured on the bottom-right corner of the cover of the issue that's on sale nationwide Thursday. A photo of Boehner's face is featured…
New Seedy Seeds Song Leaked
Cincinnati Indie/Electronic/Folk/Pop group The Seedy Seeds have leaked the title track from their forthcoming full-length Verb Noun. The album is scheduled for release Feb. 22, after which the band will present a massive “whole-house” release party at the Southgate House on Feb. 26 before embarking on an extensive U.S. tour that has the Seeds playing…
Jan. 26-Feb. 1: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY JAN. 26 Anyone familiar with Libertarians understands that there’s often a certain amount of humorous exaggeration involved in their beliefs — Ron Paul’s continued opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is still hilarious to a lot of people (mostly people who think he’s kidding). Republican Sen. Rand Paul today took a page…
Somewhere (Review)
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Sofia Coppola’s first film since 2006's underrated Marie Antoinette is laden with the writer/director's now firmly established concerns: attractive (often young) people yearning, whether they know it or not, to connect and find some sort of deeper meaning in their privileged lives. Somewhere’s simple setup centers on Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), a…
Green Papaya (Review)
O ver the years, I have come to terms with many of my faults and with the closing of a few great restaurants in the city of late, I have put my prowess for procrastination in check. No longer will I say, “I should really go there,” and continue to drive by. I have officially…
Letting the Sun Shine In
L ions, tigers and bears … and energy? The Cincinnati’s Zoo’s latest pet project won’t be housed behind glass or enclosed in habitats; instead, it will be openly displayed outside the facility for all to see. Developed, designed, owned and operated by the Melink Corp., the $11 million Melink Solar Canopy will provide 20 percent…
Let Them Eat (at) ‘Cake’
CityBeat’s kicking off a new mid-month series of breakfast and brunch reviews with today’s look at the super-popular brunch at Take the Cake (4035 Hamilton Ave., Northside, 513-421-2772). This is not a sit-and-sip-your-Blood-Mary destination. First, they don’t serve alcohol; secondly, it’s very busy. While Take the Cake is open for coffee and pastries every morning,…
City Council and Dennis Kucinich
[WINNER] CITY COUNCIL: In decades past, Cincinnati City Council typically would do whatever the Fourth Street crowd would tell it. In the authority-loving, hierarchically driven Queen City, CEOs have ruled the roost, even more so than in other cities. So we’re surprised and pleased that City Council decided to grow a collective backbone and reject…
One Last Despicable Act
H ow a person reacts in adversity reveals a lot about his or her character. In a move reminiscent of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin , Cincinnati City Councilman Jeff Berding announced last week that he was resigning soon, despite having another year left on his term. As the reason for his departure, Berding said he…
Once More, with Feeling
J ust 18 months after Cincinnati voters rejected Issue 9, the proposed charter amendment that likely would’ve blocked the city’s proposed $143 million streetcar system, the project’s opponents are taking another shot. Opponents, once again led by the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) and the NAACP’s local chapter, are working to put…
Matt Buschle [Virgil’s Cafe]
Chef Matt Buschle doesn’t like to take the easy way out. Two years ago at the height of the recession as restaurants were closing all over the area, Buschle decided it was a good time to open up his dream restaurant. Virgils Café (710 Fairfield Ave., Bellevue, 859-491-3287) has been packed ever since. Customers have…
Couch Comforts: New DVD Releases
It’s been an especially shitty winter around here. And the calendar has only just now turned to February. On the bright side, that means you've likely spent more time on the couch, bundled up in blankets with a hot cup of tea or a bottle of wine, taking in a bunch of movies via Netflix.…
Worst Day Ever!
John Kasich was in town yesterday to speak to people who are like him (any former congressmen/Fox News commentators/Wall Street executives miss the memo?). White males 40-60? Anyway, the local corporate leaders who made his acquaintance were happy to hear about the governor's “Holler at yo boy” business philosophy.—- A new study says fixing Ohio's…
