Upcoming Concerts with Low, Helmet and More…
Low Low with Pedro the Lion Wednesday · Southgate House When people fire up the new Low album, The Great Destroyer, they might look at their speakers with some consternation. To be sure, Alan Sparhawk, Mimi Parker and Zak Sally have previously flirted with volume and shades of The Big Rock, but never quite to…
Cover Story: Trashy Girl About Town
A slightly sadistic relationship ended on my 26th Birthday, at the start of last summer. Blame was catapulted and dodged, house keys returned and tears shed, but I quickly decided that dating like a fiend would be the perfect way to put all that behind me. I hadn't been single since college. I looked forward…
Cover Story: Bitch-Slap Ice Cream
not your friendA blurry night from Hell. Literally. The bar was named Hell. This was the same year Hell kicked out Jesus Christ. Not for being Jesus Christ but for dressing as Him and getting rowdy on Halloween night. The kind of place where on the wall hang plastic rats framing an artistic rendering of…
Healing Grief
We are all touched at some point in life with the death or loss of someone close to us. We will need to grieve, because it is a necessary and healthy process that helps us reach acceptance. Denying or repressing the myriad of feelings we experience does not serve us long-term. In fact, trying to…
Bitter Medicine
By a narrow vote, Cincinnati City Council last week directed its attorneys to file an objection to a federal magistrate's recommendation that the city be found in material breach of the collaborative agreement on police reform. Chief Magistrate Michael Merz found Jan. 26 that leaders in the police department had derided and denied access to…
Mark Szabo – The Whitney Barricklow Band/Kohai/JC3
· The Secret Machines Now Here Is Nowhere Driving, heavy, huge drums punctuate some of the best musical chaos I've ever heard. Ethereal guitar slinks around distorted keys and bass, and the groove supports shaky, plaintive and sometimes slightly disturbed vocals. If they represent what's new today, then I'm very interested in new music.…
Music: 9 to 5
Atlanta's Sound Tribe Sector 9 have built an eclectic fanbase by mixing organic Funk and Soul with their electronic-based experimental side. "We really feel like Artifact is the first record we've put out," says Sound Tribe Sector 9 bassist David Murphy about the band's fourth studio album. "It was a different process of songwriting for…
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
Dean Rettig Gary and Becky Rogers play a couple whose gears don't quite mesh in I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, staged by Footlighter's, Inc., in Newport. Footlighter's, Inc., one of Cincinnati's better community theaters, is staging I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE, opening Feb. 17. Turns out that during the show —…
Cover Story: Heartbreak Beat
We're here to helpLonely people hate Valentine's Day. I know because I've heard it said on some awful television show like Sex and the City or something. But why should the loveless be denied a greeting-card holiday? If you've been dumped, lost your lover in a fiery car crash, etc., you should own Valentine's Day.…
Music: Leaving This Ol’ Town
Maurice Mattei Friends, family and many fellow musicians gahtered to remeber the late voalist, Bil Caffie. The nightclub came to church to honor the life and style of Bill Caffie, then the church reconvened in the club to stomp the Blues in memoriam to the baritone who made his international reputation fronting the Count Basie…
The Patriots Are No Mere Dynasty
Jerry Dowling The line between a dynasty and a contender in the NFL is as thin as a turnover or a short memory. The New England Patriots have won three Super Bowls in the past four years by a total of nine points. They're being called a dynasty. What is a dynasty? Well, nobody can…
Cover Story: Tainted Love
transmit the very worstLove does not guarantee sex, and sex isn't always a by-product of love. Lust usually comes before anything. And in the slippery, pulsating throes of athletic sex, stemming the unprotected tide of bodily fluids remains the last thing on our minds even as we continue facing high rates of sometimes deadly sexually…
News to Use
Racism in Cincinnati The International Socialist Organization holds a discussion on "Racism in Cincinnati: Is it Getting Worse?" at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 in McMicken Hall at the University of Cincinnati. For more information, email iso_nati@yahoo.com or call 859-801-2870. Gather to Strengthen Communities National People's Action gathers in Washington, D.C. April 22-24. The 33-year-old multi-racial/ethnic,…
Cover Story: Plying the Playa
Ignoring every fundamentalist fiber in his body, Mike tried not to look uncomfortable when she lit the crumpled cigar. As he inhaled, it crackled and flashed a warm amber glow. But he wasn't impressed. It tasted bitter and he couldn't wait to hand it back to her. "I don't … feel anything yet," Mike mumbled…
Wine Clubs
If you're like me, winter can't pass fast enough in Cincinnati. These dreary days are a great time to think about starting a wine club. What better escape from the gray days of February than exploring and experiencing the fruits of the Loire Valley of France, the hills of Tuscany or the open, blue skies…
Locals Only: : Mime Kampf
Dale M. Johnson The Screaming Mimes I'd heard the stories about The Screaming Mimes — the wild parties; the Herculean abuses of various substances; the general air of decay and decadence that hangs around them like a cloud. I went to their filthy underground lair and was met at the door by the wild-eyed Preston…
Cover Story: A Kiss By Any Other Name
We all know how bad love can suck, because we've all experienced it. But sometimes we feel a little better when we hear a story about someone else for whom it's sucked even worse. Not that any of us want to wish bad luck in love on our friends and acquaintances … well, at least…
News: Still Fighting
April L. Martin More than four years after their unarmed son's death in police custody, (L-R) Brenda and Roger Owensby Sr. are frustrated by the city's handling of the case. Last week their other son was arrested after a court hearing for one of the officers involved in his brother's death. The Owensby family's frustration…
Spike Lee on the Year of the Pimp
Imagine a dialogue with a feature filmmaker that only occasionally veers towards the topic of filmmaking. Over the course of 18 films ranging from School Daze, Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X and 25th Hour, Spike Lee has fearlessly addressed the social, cultural and political spectrum of American life and has become an artistic and…
What price great sex?
I'm a thirtysomething, happily married woman except that I've never had satisfying, passionate sex with my husband. But I love him and am, for the most part, resigned. Here's where it gets complicated. I survived cancer a few years back. I'm having symptoms again, but I haven't told anyone. In a few months a business…
Cover Story: GBM Seeks GBM for Truth and Sin
Black gay men don't date. We hunt. And we hunt without much, if any, human contact. The hunt usually begins in cyberspace, on one of a gazillion black gay chat lines, the main one being "Adam for Adam." That's where a horny inarticulate brotha who wouldn't otherwise be even a remote consideration for a slob…
Love Bites
· The "iLove" concert at the Southgate House Saturday gets in the Valentine's Day spirit via an impressive roster of local Indie bands performing an original love song. Each band is recording their song, which will be included on a CD that will accompany the photo book, Where the Kids Are Goin' Tonite, featuring pics…
Film: Old and Grey
British actress Imelda Staunton received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role as an abortionist in 1950 London in director Mike Leigh's Vera Drake. Los Angeles — It's a shock when British actress Imelda Staunton walks into the hotel room. She looks lively, sprightly and fashionably contemporary. Hip, even. Pink lace peeks out from…
Does Your Mother Know?
The kids, whether hanging out on Ohio college campuses, at home watching Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie in Fox's The Simple Life: Interns or at the movies watching junk horror like Boogeyman with friends, are smarter than Ohio State Sen. Gary Cates gives them credit. Quoted recently in The Dayton Daily News about his support…
Stuff in Charlie Luken’s Gut
Sean Hughes/photopresse.com Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken gives the State of the City address Feb. 2 at Withrow High School. The problem with Charlie Luken comes down to this. As mayor, he didn't have the kind of power he wanted, and he didn't know how to use the power he had. In the final State of…
Facts Come After the Fact
I recently obtained a copy of your recent article "Chief Problem" (issue of Jan. 26-Feb. 1). I have to admit I was very amused by the cartoon drawing. There are a few things that you need to know, since police officers only deal with the facts and papers such as yours print just about anything.…
Ohio Takes Lottery More Seriously Than Voting
Ohio will soon have a voting system that is uniform across the state. Last month Secretary of State Ken Blackwell ordered county election officials to replace all other systems with precinct-count optical scan machines by May 2006. Voters will indicate their choices by filling in ovals with pens or pencils, a format familiar to anyone…
Living Out Loud: : The Elephant Woman
Aunt Sara was one of the funniest people I've ever known. She seemed to have a certain energy; she would brighten a room when she entered it. I've missed her sense of humor all these years, her self-deprecating, slapstick and over-the-top ways. Some of the funniest times in my life are connected to her, like…
Cover Story: The Tangled .Com of Dating
I'd grown weary of porn and masturbation. Sure, they served their purpose while the only pussy I was getting near was my 17-pound orange tabby, but I was ready for more. Internet dating seemed like the next right move. The successes of the couples appearing on the front page of every dating Web site —…
Diner: A Lovely Wallop
Creamy. It's not a word most people use in the same sentence with Japanese cuisine. But the adjective just kept popping out of my mouth at Aoi. While most traditional Japanese dishes don't have a drop of dairy, the textures invite descriptions like "silky," "velvety," and yes, dang it, "creamy." I have to admit raw…
Cover Story: The Cure for Bridalitis
There's a photo I store in the kitchen junk drawer. It was taken in the midst of a move from a college dorm to an apartment. Overwhelmed and unbathed in my uniform of jeans and T-shirt, I'm wild-eyed, my nostrils flared and jaw clenched, lunging at the camera. The Post-it reads: "Note to self: Never…
