Meals On Reels
In the movie Sideways, wine is the unbilled costar of this road film about two buddies off on a bit of a tear for a week in Santa Barbara's wine country in search of wine, women and themselves. Whether dissing merlot, teaching Wine 101, waxing poetic about the grape genie in a bottle or drinking…
Morning Becomes Electric
Pre-dawn. Post-alarm clock. I, Bob, an acknowledged sentient entity, the man I know and have never quite warmed up to, do not brew the coffee. No. My alter ego, an anonymous cataleptic mass of cohered cells powered by basal electromechanical impulses and driven by an instinct for, if not survival, Level One attentiveness should survival…
Missing My Weekly Dose
Like the letter-writer in last week's paper, I miss Your Negro Tour Guide ("Tour Will Be Missed," issue of Feb. 16-22). I miss being nudged or catapulted — depending on the subject matter — out of my comfort zone. I miss having to think in new ways, having to re-examine my experience as a white,…
Do the right thing
One of my best friends was recently diagnosed with HIV. Since college, he's been on an unending sex conquest, hooking up with countless guys he meets online to engage in risky activities. My concern is that he doesn't seem fazed by his HIV diagnosis and says he has no intention of giving up his online…
Person of the Year: The Honor Is Ours
The annual Person of the Year cover story is always one of my favorite CityBeat issues. In many ways it epitomizes this paper's reason for being. The choices we've made over the years for Person of the Year demonstrate a few things — our commitment to grassroots community building, our attraction to covering people and…
At Last, a Spring of Real Hope for the Reds
Jerry Dowling A little more than a year ago, this space noted that no year has ever transpired in which the Bengals played a complete winning season while the Reds endured a losing season. It was predicted, with the foresight of dread, that the year would come soon. But another year has come and gone…
A Memorable “Soliloquy”
Local group Sallow hosts a CD release show for its debut album, Soliloquy, on Friday at the Northside Tavern. The "band" and album are the brainchildren of singer/songwriter Joseph Remnant, who began work on the CD more than two years ago by himself (he plays all of the instruments on the disc except for some…
News: Hard Ride Ahead
Ian Harris Pedaling through Asia: (L-R) Jacob Richardson, Raphael Parker and Ian Harris will be peddling the need for gender equality. Sometimes the pace of social reform can be measured a mile at a time. Such is the case for three Cincinnati men who plan to bicycle thousands of miles to promote gender equality. The…
Puttin’ Out the Bone
Let's analyze the hell out of this Cincinnati mayor's race. It'll be fun, and it sure is worth the time. Look, Cincinnati is the anchor of Greater Cincinnati, and whether you live in or out of the city, the health of the hub matters plenty. First, I wish Cincinnati's mayor really had administrative power like…
Diner: Food on the Move
Tattie should have herself cloned. Every neighborhood needs a Tattie's To Go, a great deli and carryout with prepared meals that would make pizza delivery obsolete. Tattie's cute little shop is on the main drag in Fairfax, almost right across Wooster Pike from Frisch's Mainliner — but miles away, gastronomically. While the owner, Tattie, has…
Music: Life Among the Finns
Tim (left) and Neil Finn's latest collaboration, Everyone Is Here, was both the most difficult and most personal album the two have made yet. "It really gets all tangled up," says Tim Finn on the subject of his creative partnership with his brother, former Crowded House frontman Neil Finn. "We're both songwriters, we both write…
Locals Only: : Tri A Little Grooviness
Dale M. Johnson TriFectaFunk When we think of piano-centered trios in Cincinnati, we probably think either of the goings-on at the Blue Wisp or, for those of us who haven't had that pleasure, we probably remember Ben Folds Five. There is one group in Cincinnati outside these limits, however: TriFectaFunk. Having formed just over a…
Black and White
Many in Cincinnati's African-American community are furious about what they see as the police department's double standard for disciplining white and black officers. Among those convinced that a white police lieutenant lied about wrecking a car to cover for the white female officer who actually did it are Councilman Christopher Smitherman and Scotty Johnson, president…
A Return to the Crossroads
"I am the teacher from the far and beyond/Turn an apple to a lotus, turn a rib to a wand" — Grand Verbalizer Brother J I recently stumbled upon a blog suggesting that the early '90s Hip Hop collective X-Clan was making a comeback. But before I jumped out of my seat and threw a…
When Law Enforcers Run Amok
Graham Lienhart Standing witness for peace are (L-R) Leslie Wilson, Sue Bal and Hans Schellhas. A federal judge in Salt Lake City is now studying documents that could link the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City to Shawn Kenny of Cincinnati. A memorandum filed Feb. 21 in U.S. District Court in Salt…
Cover Story: Recipe for Good: Person of the Year
Sean Hughes/photopresse.com Jean-Robert de Cavel, CityBeat's 2004 Person of the Year. Jean-Robert de Cavel is CityBeat's 2004 Person of the Year. That might strike some as an odd choice, given that our past selections tended toward activists and political movers and shakers. How does Cincinnati's best known chef fit into this set of people who…
Living Out Loud: : Dead and Buried
This week's Living Out Loud was to be called "Revisiting the Night Creeper" — a tale of five fires in the Roanoke apartment building in Clifton in February 1976 and the arsonist who was setting them. I was going to refer to an article Jon Christopher Hughes wrote 29 years ago, insert some interviews with…
News to Use
A Week in the Death (Penalty) Xavier University hosts a week of dialogue on the death penalty through Sunday. A free showing of the film The Exonerated at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Alter Hall B-11 will be followed by an Ohio Innocence Project discussion of DNA testing. Seating is limited; RSVP to Matt Bennett at…
Upcoming Concerts with Gov’t Mule and More…
Gov't Mule Gov't Mule Wednesday · Bogart's It's been over a decade-and-a-half since Warren Haynes walked nervously into the Allman Brothers' rehearsal space and began peeling off a note-perfect evocation of a Duane Allman solo during his band audition. As the band ground to a halt, Gregg Allman looked over at Haynes and said, "We…
