Forgotten Classics: The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
There’s no denying it: The British TV drama Sherlock is popular — ridiculously popular. So popular that one could say that it’s what launched Benedict Cumberbatch’s status from actor to superstar. Thankfully, his talent is still intact. But I’m not here to talk about Cumberbatch. I’m here to talk about Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan…
Morning News and Stuff
All right. Let’s do this news thing. If its ballot initiative passes, three of the 10 marijuana cultivation farms proposed by ResponsibleOhio would be in Greater Cincinnati, including one in Hamilton County near Anderson Township. One other location would be in Butler County on land owned by Trenton-based Magnode Corporation and a third would be…
Queer City Spotlight: Queen City Queer Theatre Collective
As Louisville and Columbus receive more national recognition for a growing queer community, especially when it comes to nightlife, it made me think: Where is Cincinnati’s place in all of this? What burgeoning queer organizations or popular queer spots in town are making their mark and promoting education, change and the values that make up…
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. Ilene Ross: It wasn't exactly cold this weekend, but most frigid winter days find me jonesing for a body-warming bowl of congee, a type of…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all, I’m about to run out to cover a story, but here’s a quick little morning news reading list for ya. I’ll update as necessary a little later in the day. Gov. John Kasich will come to Cincinnati tomorrow to talk about new standards for the state’s social service organizations he has proposed in…
Your Weekend To Do List (2/6-2/8)
If you like parties, dogs, drinking , world-class theater, Natalie Cole and po' boys, we've got a list of reasons for you to leave the house this week. If none of those things appeal to you, there's always TV. Why not start with TV? For all of you who are still repeatedly binge-watching Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul…
Lamb Watch 2015
With the news of local musician Jess Lamb competing on the 14th season of American Idol, I’ve been watching and waiting for the initial audition episodes to end so we can really get into the competition and see more Jess. This week was the first half of Hollywood rounds, where some 200 contestants that received…
Morning News and Stuff
Morning y’all. Here’s what’s going on in Cincy and the wider world today. Is a county-level crime lab a luxury item? That’s a comment Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann made yesterday during the annual “state of the county” speech attended by many high-level county officials. Hartmann made the statement in response to a question about…
Stage Door: Two One-Woman Shows Worth Seeing This Weekend
A special treat onstage at the Aronoff Center's Fifth Third Bank Theater through a Sunday 2 p.m. matinee: Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, featuring Torie Wiggins giving voice to people making pronouncements about race, justice and violence in America. The script by Anna Deavere Smith, drawn verbatim from numerous interviews, was created in the mid-1990s in…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone, and what an emotional rollercoaster it was! Not only was the game neck and neck until the end, but viewers were taken through a gauntlet of tear-jerking ads between plays. Lost puppies? Check. Dead children? Of course! It is the Super Bowl, after all. It’s as if advertisers…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning, Cincy. Here’s what’s up today: The Cincinnati Police Department will pay a local man $25,000 to settle a federal false arrest and first amendment lawsuit. Forest Thorner III was arrested after police took exception to promotional strategies he used to get attention for a friend’s comedy act at the 2012 Party in the…
From the Copy Desk
Good morning readers! Let's get right to it: I rounded up four words in this week's issue of Words Nobody Uses or Knows. (Side Note: If you haven't already, check out this year's Love List. We've profiled 12 of Cincinnati's hottest locals, and each one offers bits of wisdom on love, work and passion, just…
SpongBob SquarePants: Sponge Out of Water
Will kids be able to drag their families out to see SpongeBob SquarePants make the mid-movie transition from cartoon favorite to a real-life three-dimensional character along with his buddies? What, pray tell, could force SpongeBob to attempt such a feat? When someone steals the secret Krabbie Patty recipe, of course. In our world, the SquarePants…
Seventh Son
Swords and sorcery get a Young Adult reboot in this new fantasy adventure from Sergey Bodrov (Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan) focusing on the prophetic notions of a secret legion of seventh sons trained and ready to serve and protect humanity that has nearly been wiped out. A young man named Thomas (Ben Barnes)…
Mr. Turner
The little-known life and times of J.M.W. Turner, one of the greatest (albeit rather eccentric) painters of his time to emerge from England, is told by writer-director Mike Leigh, one of film’s least celebrated treasures. Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography, Mr. Turner also has a true reserve of talent due to the…
Mommy
Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother, Laurence Anyways) has stormed the gates of the independent filmmaking world (and done so from Québec, Canada, no less), writing, directing and sometimes starring in a string of films that feel as if he’s baring his big and beautifully wounded soul for all to see. His latest, Mommy, trains…
Jupiter Ascending
As filmmakers, Andy and Lana Wachowski fully embrace their inner teenage geeks, filling in all of the lush details of their fantasies on the largest canvas possible, and they have earned an astonishing degree of trust from the Hollywood studio system world thanks to the mold breaking (and recreating) effects used in The Matrix. But…
Who You Gonna Call? Saul Goodman!
When Breaking Bad viewers first met Bob Odenkirk’s character, sleazy defense attorney Saul Goodman, he was a welcome comedic relief in an otherwise heavy show. As the series progressed, the funnyman — along with all other characters — was drawn into deeper and darker storylines; Odenkirk was really able to shine, playing an entertaining, multifaceted…
Dardenne Brothers Offer a Raw Look at the Working Class
Seemingly spent from months of pimping dozens of Oscar-season hopefuls, the big studios often try to hide their creatively challenged or otherwise flawed releases in the annual cinematic wasteland known as February. Only eight studio movies are currently scheduled for release this month, none of which look particularly promising. That would include this week’s pair…
Local Festival Offers Unified and Universal Narratives
Audiences outside the scope of the mainstream studio system are sometimes forced to wander along the margins in search of familiar reflections of themselves, honing in on specific stories conceived and produced by members of their communities of origin. But a funny thing happens on the way to film festivals dedicated to their collective experiences…
Exhale Dance Tribe Celebrates 10 Years in Cincinnati
It’s a sunny, cold January afternoon when I pull up outside the stone façade of a grand old building on Gilbert Avenue for an interview with Missy Lay Zimmer and Andrew Hubbard. Spread across the loft-like top floor is Planet Dance, the progressive dance studio founded by the two. It’s also home to the duo’s…
Playwriting “Like a Girl”
Did you see the Procter & Gamble “like a girl” ad during the Super Bowl? It turned the phrase, too often used disparagingly, to mean something powerful. I’m grabbing that commendable notion (thanks P&G) and applying it to the writing of plays, where writing “like a girl” has often been ignored and insufficiently produced. In…
On the Air
F or those too young to remember, WKRP in Cincinnati was a TV show set in the fictional universe of Cincinnati radio (emphasis on the word fictional), yet it was based on actual radio follies from creator Hugh Wilson’s stint in Atlanta radio. The show aired for four seasons from 1978 to the spring of…
Mardi Gras on Madison (Review)
I n January, Latoya “Toya” Foster of New Orleans to Go food truck fame opened a brick-and-mortar version of her Cajun/Creole vittles called Mardi Gras on Madison in East Walnut Hills. But this isn’t her and husband/co-owner Randy’s first foray into having a stand-alone spot — between 2006 and 2009 they operated a storefront in…
Cole Swindell
Outside is colder than the PBR in my fridge, but a little time with Cole Swindell’s first single warms everything up just right. “Chillin’ It,” released in the summer of 2013, is the very essence of redneck summers. It’s catching up with Montgomery Road past all the ’burbs, turning onto Front Street in Morrow and…
Joanne Shaw Taylor
A cursory spin of Joanne Shaw Taylor’s debut album, 2009’s White Sugar, reveals an artist with a soulful understanding of the Blues and possessed of a husky vocal instrument that perfectly exemplifies the genre’s weary joy and therapeutic exuberance. Even more astonishing is Taylor’s guitar mastery, a shuffling fuzz pedal attack that creeps through a…
Frontier Ruckus with River Whyless
In some parallel universe, the late, great Jay Bennett was the alpha male in Wilco, chasing Jeff Tweedy from the ranks and fashioning the band into an irresistible Americana/Pop juggernaut. And in that same alternate reality, Ben Folds was enamored of expansive Chamber Pop and Roots Rock and set his course for the heart of…
Dave Mason’s Traffic Jam
Life is a circle and it’s come back around full force for Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dave Mason, who began his legendary career nearly 50 years ago as co-founder of Traffic and now revisits those halcyon days with his latest touring concept/project, Traffic Jam. Although Mason’s tenure with Traffic was relatively brief —…
The Long Rider
W illie Nile, the long underappreciated, roots-rockin’ singer/songwriter from the streets of New York, has been on an incredible ride — an American ride — of late. Nile’s 2013 album American Ride, a ringing affirmation of lyrically heartfelt Punk- and Folk-influenced Rock with chiming and crunching guitar chords and hugely irresistible, heroic sing-along choruses, turned…
Cincinnati’s Lightborne Communications Helped Create Katy Perry’s Super Bowl Show
When news came out yesterday that Katy Perry’s Super Bowl halftime show was the most-watched and highest-rated of any in history that featured entertainment, there was celebration at Lightborne Communications, the video-production-services company in Over-the-Rhine. Lightborne created all the animated video projections used in Perry’s 12-and-a-half-minute set, which featured a medley of abbreviated versions of…
Taking a Toll
A short stack of 1099 forms, what the government releases for “miscellaneous income,” is the annual tally of what my bevy of last year’s employers said my services were worth. Recalling all the jobs that kept the lights and heat on ain’t pretty or lucrative, and fanning through these 1099s doesn’t elicit shouts of joy…
Cincinnati vs. The World 2.04.15
For the third quarter in a row, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport had the highest airfares amongst the nation’s top 100 airports, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. CVG’S average fare price in the third quarter of 2014 was $533, while the average fare nationwide was $396. Cincinnati -1 The gap in bachelor-degree attainment…
Worst Week Ever!: Jan. 28-Feb. 3
Mike Huckabee Uses Another Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp Analogy Sometimes when you hear someone say something stupid you can brush it off easily, noting that they lack the social interaction skills and knowledge that would make you expect them not to say stupid things. It’s a bit different when you hear a former Arkansas governor and 2016…
Film: Grease Sing-Along
Grease is the word; The Esquire is the place. A special sing-along celebrating the highest-grossing musical of all time and cultural phenomenon Grease is arriving at the Mariemont and Esquire theaters. Feel free to belt out “Summer nights” and chant “We Go Together” at the high school carnival with the rest of the kids. Don…
Music: Unforgettable: An Evening with Natalie Cole
Do some prep for a romantic Valentine’s Day by indulging in the smooth sounds of the Cincinnati Pops and Natalie Cole. Cole, a nine time Grammy winner, internationally acclaimed artist and daughter of Jazz icon Nat King Cole, is best known for her hits like “This Will Be” and “Our Love.” On Sunday, Cole takes…
Kasich Budget Proposal: Slash Income Tax, Raise Sales Tax
Gov. John Kasich is touting half a million dollars in tax cuts in his new budget proposal, but Ohio’s tax scheme could get more regressive if state lawmakers take up the proposed budget. The budget proposal, released Feb. 2, would lower income taxes by 23 percent over the next two years. The budget would pay…
Event Cov200 Bicentennial Gala and Birthday Bash
We spend a lot of time toasting to the greatness of Cincinnati, but it’s time to love on our neighbors to the south. Covington is celebrating its 200th birthday and the city is doing it in major style. Say “Happy Birthday” to The C.O.V. by putting on your fanciest LBD (or tux, whatevs) and heading…
Event: Garage Brewed Moto Show
The Garage Brewed Moto Show features more than 50 motorcycles/bikes from the Tristate for this first invitational motorcycle show, held in the historical Over-the-Rhine Brewery District. The event will include awards in four different categories: pro custom, garage custom, classic bikes and people’s choice. Appreciate the builders who dedicate their time building motorcycles, whether they’re…
Going for the Green
I f a group of former athletes, entrepreneurs, developers and other investors gets its way, a high-profile ballot initiative seeking to change Ohio’s constitution could make it legal to light up a joint in the state. But the details of the proposal are tricky, and both conservative politicians and other legalization advocates have cried foul.…
Event: Jungle Jim’s Big Cheese Festival
Crumbled, shredded, grated or diced. Whatever the case may be, it’s cheese, and Jungle Jim’s Big Cheese Festival is giving you a chance to sample it at its finest. This fun family event will feature more than 40 cheese booths from cheese makers all over the country as they offer their best selections of mozzarellas,…
Local Festival Offers Unified and Universal Narratives
Audiences outside the scope of the mainstream studio system are sometimes forced to wander along the margins in search of familiar reflections of themselves, honing in on specific stories conceived and produced by members of their communities of origin. But a funny thing happens on the way to film festivals dedicated to their collective experiences…
Film: Jewish & Israeli Film Festival
The Mayerson JCC hosts the international Jewish & Israeli film festival with the tagline, “More controversy. More comedy. More films.” The fest screens 10 award-winning independent films, ranging from contemporary dramas to documentaries. There will also be a selection of Jewish-interest films produced outside of Israel. The fest kicks off with a screening of Peace…
Onstage: The Year of Magical Thinking
In 2004, author Joan Didion came to terms with the unexpected death of her husband of 40 years as well as the grave illness of their only daughter by writing a memoir. In 2007, she transformed her narrative of mourning into a monologue for the stage that actress Vanessa Redgrave took to Broadway. Local director…
Event: Balls Around the Block
As the number of residents in downtown increases, so does the number of dogs without a backyard. This is where Balls Around the Block steps in. For the past 10 years, Cincy dog lovers have come together via canines and booze to raise an incredible amount of money for downtown’s Fido Field. The concept started…
Class: Tablet-Weaving Workshop
The Weavers Guild of Cincinnati welcomes nationally recognized John Mullarkey to lead a tablet-weaving workshop where he will teach the fundamentals of woven pattern design. Tablet-weaving is a method of weaving narrow decorative bands, and Mullarkey is a teacher, weaver, author and blogger whose colorful works have been displayed in the Missouri History Museum and…
Comedy: John Roy
It’s no surprise that people such as Steve Martin, George Carlin and Richard Pryor influenced generations of stand-up comics. And while comedian John Roy was also influenced by those artists, his first exposure to stand-up was atypical. “On Sunday nights when I was 12, I would stay up waiting for Dr. Who on the local…
Art: Liquid Light: Joseph Marioni at DAAP’s Reed Gallery
Cincinnati-born, Art Academy of Cincinnati-educated, New York-based painter Joseph Marioni is known for his monochrome paintings, which emerged in the wake of Minimalism. Although he rejects the suggestion that they are monochromes (because he applies varying hues of the same color), Marioni and his peers — painters like Ryman and Rothko — rejected representational painting…
Music: Erra
Metalcore fans are no doubt excited for genre champs August Burns Red’s Bogart’s stop this week, not only to catch the headliners, but also to hear the band’s high-quality tourmates, which include Ohio stars Miss May I and Australia’s Northlane. Birmingham, Ala., band Erra might be the least known on the tour’s bill, but its…
Love List: Andy Gasper, Logan Lautzenheiser, Karl Spaeth, Chris Weir
Names: Andy Gasper, Logan Lautzenheiser, Karl Spaeth, Chris Weir Ages: 28, 29, 30, 27 Title: Future Science Hometowns: Kent, Ohio; Mason; Mason; Cold Spring, Ky. Why we love them: For their self-described “Monty Python meets Space Jam ” monthly sketch comedy show at MOTR Pub. Late night (aka 10 p.m.) the final Sunday of each…
Love List: Napoleon Maddox
Name: Napoleon Maddox Age: “I’m a child of the ’70s.” title: Artist/educator/musician Hometown: Cincinnati Why we love him: For his creative efforts to reflect his globally minded, socially conscious perspective. The frontman of long-standing conscious local Hip Hop group ISWHAT?!, Napoleon Maddox speaks enthusiastically and deliberately during a recent meeting at Island Frydays on Short…
Love List: Ileana Saldivia
Name: Ileana Saldivia Age: One never asks a lady her age Title: Owner at Sugar Realm Fine Bakery & Cake Design Hometown: Caracas, Venezuela Why we love her: For her ability to create the most beguiling and delicious cakes known to man. Ileana Saldivia’s journey to become a pastry chef is a unique one, to…
Morning News and Stuff
What’s up, all? That’s a rhetorical question. News is what’s up, and here it is. Answers in Genesis, the Christian organization based in Northern Kentucky that is building a Noah’s Ark theme park in Grant County, has said it will sue the state of Kentucky over tax credits the state rescinded in December. The state…
A Winter Sampler of Cincinnati Blues
Cincinnati Blues was well represented at the 2015 International Blues Challenge late last month, where dozens of acts from around the world competed for top honors in a variety of categories. (Ohio Blues in general fared very well this year, with five of the 16 finalists hailing from the Buckeye State.) Cincinnati’s The Whiskey Shambles…
Love List: Sam Ulu
Name: Sam Ulu Age: 29 Title: Founder of Kandid.ly Hometown: Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria Why we love him: His desire to inspire others while keeping an innovative focused-yet-fun “work hard, play hard” attitude (and his cool accent). A fter growing up in Nigeria and spending his childhood learning English by watching movies, Sam Ulu came…
Love List: Tamara Winters
Name: Tamara Winters Age: 33 Title: Associate Artistic Director at Know Theatre Hometown: Born in Monterey, Calif., but passed through Virginia, San Francisco and Athens, Ohio on her way to Cincinnati, which she says, “feels more like a hometown than any other place I’ve lived.” Why we love her: Because her job is her passion. T…
Sly Salvation
HOT: Sly Salvation It’s always distressing to see artists duped out of money made entirely from their own creations. It’s even more troubling when the artist is an influential icon like Sly Stone, a superstar with his Soul/Funk/Rock juggernaut Sly and the Family Stone, who in more recent years became reclusive and erratic, reportedly living…
Love List: Justin Jeffre
Name: Justin Jeffre Age: 41 Title: Editor of Streetvibes, an advocacy newspaper on homelessness published through the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition; member of local Pop/R&B group 98 Degrees. Hometown: Cincinnati, but he was born in Mount Clemens, Mich., a town so small “even people that I know in Michigan have never heard of it.” Why…
Love List: Brian Sholis
Name: Brian Sholis Age: 35 Title: Associate Curator of Photography at Cincinnati Art Museum Hometown: Chicago Why we love him: Because he brings know-how and a genuine sense of earnestness to his position as an arts administrator. Brian Sholis moved to Cincinnati from his editor post at the Aperture Foundation in New York just…
Love List: Stacey Vest
Name: Stacey Vest Age: “Old enough to know better and too young to give a rat’s buttocks.” Title: Costume and wig engineer at Sweet Hayseed’s Wearable Wonders Hometown: Cincinnati Why we love her: She’s the perfect balance of zany, sugary sweet and artistic genius; her wigs are both a drag queen’s dream and some of the most couture…
Love List: Megan Deal
Name: Megan Deal Age: 28 Title: Program Director at People’s Liberty Hometown: Flint, Mich. Why we love her: Because she’s passionate about connecting people to make an impact in the cities they call home. “I think there’s sort of a momentum in Cincinnati right now; sort of anything is possible,” says People’s Liberty program director…
UC Hosts White House Task Force Sessions on Police Reform
The University of Cincinnati hosted the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing Jan. 30 and 31, bringing together experts from across the country to discuss ways policing might change. President Barack Obama created the task force in December to garner suggestions about reforms in policing. An intense discussion on law enforcement policies has…
Event: Extreme Bull Riding
Bull riding might be the most dangerous sport in the world, but don’t let that stop you from hootin’ and hollerin’. Cheer on cowboys and cowgirls during the Extreme Bull Riding Bronco Busting and Barrel Racing show at Cincinnati Gardens. Following the bulls and barrel racing, get a chance to see rising Country singer Cole…
