Inauguration Parties
So our bars may not be open until 5 a.m. (Washington D.C. is officially the party capital of the United States tonight), but there are still some sweet parties/drinking events going on around our fine city. —- Any bar is going to be a safe bet for some long overdue celebrating tonight but try the…
Onstage: Jane Comfort and Company
Jane Comfort and Company’s An American Rendition offers unsettling yet humorous insight on the moral and political paralysis of American citizens, who even in the face of torture and humiliation remain distracted by reality television shows. Blending movement, integrated text, video and extended vocal techniques, the performance shifts between two worlds: the surface world, where…
Music: Chad and Jeremy
I’ll be honest — when I saw that ’60s British Folk Pop duo Chad & Jeremy were playing the 20th Century Theatre this Sunday, my first thought was, “What, the ‘Oldies Revue’ package tour takes the winter off?” But the duo of Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde — who were mega-superstars in their heyday —…
Events: Up for Grabs Day
So it’s not officially time for spring cleaning just yet, but who doesn’t have some post-holiday junk hanging around the house? I’m using the term “junk” lightly here because as we all know “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” and that adage is exactly the attitude at Northside’s third annual Up For Grabs Day.…
Art: The BorgDot Works and Looking Through Glass at Manifest
Manifest Creative Research Gallery kicks off its 2009 exhibition year with two single-artist shows, David Dotson's The BorgDot Works and Tama Hochbaum’s Looking Through the Glass. The first, in the main gallery, features a series of cyborg-like sculptural works — bio-mechanical “creatures,” almost microscopic in size, according to the gallery's description — presented in lighted…
Onstage: CSO College Nite
Any activity dubbed “College Nite” typically conjures thoughts of nickel beers and soggy togas but that’s certainly not what the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has in mind. College Nite at the CSO Friday is a special treat for all area college students, as the normal $10 student rate affords you not only a seat at the…
Comedy: Dan Gabriel
Comedian Dan Gabriel has a soft spot for Cincinnati. “I actually taped my CD (Giant Robot) at Go Bananas,” the California native says. “It's a great room. The low ceilings make the laughs sound incredible.” Don't expect a greatest hits show, though, when Gabriel returns to the Montgomery club. “(Expect) very little stuff from Giant…
Film: The Spider, The Mistress and The Tangerine
Last year, the release of the documentary Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress, and the Tangerine was well timed to widen discussion of the sculptor’s work then on display in a huge retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Bourgeois, well into her nineties, creates sculpture, installations, drawings and prints that plumb her own…
Attractions: An Enchanted Oasis at Krohn Conservatory
The Krohn Conservatory offers a welcome respite from Cincinnati’s midwinter gloom with An Enchanted Oasis, their early spring floral show. Step inside the exhibit room for tropical temperatures and an array of colorful tulips, daffodils, violas and hyacinths, arranged by Krohn’s resident florist, Stacie Martin, a recent Cincinnati State graduate. In addition to the floral…
Art: Stego at Northern Kentucky University
In the 1970s, Cincinnati’s Patricia Renick was one of a generation of women sculptors who came into their own as wildly influential artists who broadened the possibilities of what sculpture and art could look like. It could even look a cross between a Stegosaurus and a Volkswagen, as one of her most famous monumental sculptures,…
Events: LunaFest
Disinterested in Hollywood’s recent crop of lame comedies (Paul Blart Mall Cop is really No. 1 at the box office?) and lifeless thrillers? Cincinnati World Cinema has the antidote: LunaFest is a “Best of Fest” collection of short films by women filmmakers who delve into diverse subject matter rarely seen in the often narrow-minded multiplex.…
Onstage: I Love You Because
If you’re a Jane Austen fan at Know Theatre’s regional premiere of the 2006 musical I Love You Because, you’ll feel as if you know this story. In fact, composer Joshua Salzman and lyricist Ryan Cunningham co-opted the plot of Pride and Prejudice, reversing the central characters’ genders. If you don’t know the novel, fear…
Onstage: Alcina Almighty
As Valentine’s season approaches, Alcina is more operatic astringent than aperitif, beginning as the ultimate revenge fantasy, featuring a dazzling siren who lures men onto her island and when she’s had enough, changes the hapless lovers into animals, vegetables or minerals. True love confounds her magic with an elegant score by George Frederic Handel (who…
Music: Tickle Me Pink
Untimely death in Rock is a tragedy as old as the form itself. Last summer, Fort Collins, Col., Emo/melodic Pop quartet Tickle Me Pink joined that sad roll call when bassist Johnny Schou inexplicably died in his sleep on the eve of the release of Madeline, the band’s full-length debut. It was a blow that…
Music: The Royal Bangs
The Royal Bangs’ sound could be accurately connected to numerous archetypes of Modern Rock – the proverbial so-and-so meets so-and-so comparisons generally apply. Sometimes the Bangs sound a lot like important bands that people love but, strangely, they don’t sound too much like any one in particular. They are new, fresh, jazzy and kind of…
Music: Zelazowa
James Conlon and Paavo Jarvi and a professor or two from CCM might be able to tell you that Zelazowa is the birthplace of Frederick Chopin, but they might not be able to translate the Polish name into its loose English meaning, which is “steel will.” For that, you might require the talents of the…
Art: Luminous Paintings at the Weston Art Gallery
“It’s like chess,” Tom Bacher says of his self-invented process for painting. “I have to think 20 moves ahead.” The results of that strategic approach to making art, Luminous Paintings by Tom Bacher in the downtown Aronoff Center for the Arts’ Weston Art Gallery, fills all three galleries, which is unusual but not unprecedented for…
Onstage: Grease
Believe it or not, Grease was the word on Broadway for most of the 1970s. It opened in 1972 and ran for 3,388 performances. When it eventually closed in April 1980, it had established a record as Broadway’s longest-running show (until A Chorus Line came along, another show included in this year’s Broadway Across America…
The Heartless Bastards Do Letterman
Cincinnati's Heartless Bastards are gearing up for some heavy promotion for their third album, The Mountain, due from Fat Possum Records on Feb. 3. Along with a non-stop string of tour dates with The Black Keys, Gaslight Anthem and Andrew Bird, the group has a scheduled appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman on…
Alex Gonzalez, the Forgotten Man
I can't go on writing "The Reds should sign (insert free agent's name here)” blogs much longer. Pitchers and catchers report soon enough, and who the Reds sign, if anyone, isn't likely to be a very big-time move.—- (Although, out of the pool of players named in Mark Sheldon's recent article, I would be most…
The Faux Frenchmen Do Woodsongs
Cincinnati's Django-loving Gypsy Jazz group The Faux Frenchmen are taking the night off tonight from their usual Monday night gig at Tink's in Clifton (singer Annette Shepherd and Troubadour Dali are filling in) to journey down to Lexington. There, the band will record a live session for the excellent Kentucky public television series Woodsongs (which…
Onstage: The Nina Variations
Steven Dietz’s The Nina Variations is a funny and poignant study on the final scene of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, giving star-crossed lovers Nina and Treplev a chance to create a different ending to their story by repeating the play's famous final scene 43 different ways. As the two young artists confront each other again…
Rocky Mountain News Still In Limbo
Cincinnati-based Scripps announced in early December that they would be selling or shutting down The Rocky Mountain News in Denver. The deadline for finding a buyer has passed with no word on the fate of the paper. The Denver Newspaper Agency, which prints the paper, set the deadline of Jan. 16 in response to requests…
More Inauguration Coverage and Profiteering
CityBeat's inauguration page now includes a link to our alt weekly colleagues in D.C., the Washington City Paper, which features a huge inauguration guide for the millions of people already descending on their city. City Paper staffers are sending out constant updates on Twitter and a group blog, Inbloguration, including this multimedia gem from about…
Positive Punk
I've always assumed when growing up that every white, middle class suburban kid went through a Punk Rock phase in their lives. That assumption was put to rest by my girlfriend who has been dedicated to Cat Power and other depressing bands since she was introduced to music. —- The punk rock genre has always…
Nikki Giovanni Publishes a New Book of Poems
Earlier this week, Bicycles: Love Poems by Cincinnati-native and Virginia Tech professor Nikki Giovanni went on sale. The poems in this collection are meant to serve as a companion to her 1997 work, Love Poems. This is her 27th work. In the book, she addresses, among many things, the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Hear an…
Friday Movie Round-up: Rourke’s Redemption
Remember when Mickey Rourke was one of the most compelling actors on the planet? Sure, one must go back more than two decades, but there was a time when his wry smile, knowing eyes and playful, sexually charged persona made Rourke both a cult figure — the French still adore him — and an actor…
Eric Lee to Leave Taft Museum of Art
The changes on the local visual art scene just keep coming. Hot on the heels of Scott Boberg leaving the CAC — as well as several staff cuts at the CAC and the Cincinnati Art Museum — the Taft Museum of Art announced today that its director, Eric M. Lee, will be “leaving his post…
DYN-O-MITE!
Can you feel it? Is it cold enough for ya? Southgate House is turning up the hot hot heat this Saturday! The Dynamites feat. Charles Walker fire up the original flames of Funk and sound out the seductive sins of Soul. Intense horns, badass bass and master guitar-itry all keepin beat for a relic manning…
Grand Prize Winner: Steve Walker
You are the winner of tonight’s Bud Light Bolo Toss game. How does it feel to be a champion? Any advice for Carson Palmer? This feels great. Carson will be fine. Now that you are in the spotlight, you are a role model. Any words of wisdom for all those aspiring Bud Light Bolo football…
Clearing Out ’08
Well, the release sheets are still a little thin, but they’re beginning to pick up. In fact, next week’s list is jammed with possibilities, and it gets better as we move into February and beyond. I am desperately using this slow time to attempt to disassemble the teetering piles of late 2008 releases that are…
Snap, Crackle, POP!
Not a sound you’ll want to hear when the temps are in the frigid-zone. If you don’t take care of your pipes that might be exactly what you have to deal with.—- And the Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW) is doing a bit of hand-wringing over the matter. In a press release, the Water Works…
The Reds Are Weird and it’s EE’s Fault
This year’s free agent market has been extremely slow in developing, and there are still big-name guys waiting to find out where they fit in. The opportunity is ripe for a team like the Reds, with a little cash to spend, to find a rare deal. But the Reds are a weird team right now,…
Enquirer: No Pay For You!
It’s not quite as bad as a pink slip from an unexpected layoff, but the latest action at the troubled Cincinnati Enquirer certainly isn’t good news for its workers.—- In a memo distributed today to all non-unionized employees at The Gannet Co., The Enquirer’s parent firm, a top executive announced that workers must take a…
Where’s Nui?
I know that all of you have seen at least one of the 2,000 or so neon posters/flyers plastered around town pleading for the safe return of a missing Shih Tzu named Nui. When the first round of posters went up they had pictures of Nui and a promised reward of $500. Now the reward…
Revolutionary Road (Review)
This is the week that movies playing the Oscar-nomination game have to put up or shut up. The nominations are revealed on Jan. 22, and movies with lofty ambitions need to be in theaters by then to gain traction. If they get nominations, people already know where they’re playing. And if they don’t, they’ve at…
The Wrestler (Review)
Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was a world wrestling champion 20 years ago. Now he shuffles along between bouts, accepting the goodwill and respect of the up and comers in the game as he checks his hearing aid and sometimes considers whether or not he will be locked out of his trailer because the…
The Ascent
I wanted to dislike The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge. Well, “wanted” is the wrong word. I expected to dislike the Ascent. Perhaps this could be due to my preference for old historic buildings, or maybe I presumed that such high aspirations would have to result in a stunning but alienating encounter. I have to say…
Mallory Misses the Mark
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge William Mallory held an evidentiary hearing Jan. 9 on an appeal filed by the Ohio Innocence Project seeking a new trial for Bryant Gaines, convicted of a 2003 murder in Avondale. “An innocent person,” Mallory said, “should never be incarcerated.” He said he respected the work of the Ohio Innocence…
2009 Visual Art Wish List
As we enter a new year, my biggest wish for Cincinnati’s visual-arts scene in 2009 is a simple one — that we can hold onto what already is here. Lots of people in the local arts are struggling, along with the greater economy, and that puts what they’re doing at risk. The Cincinnati Art Museum…
Last Chance Harvey (Review)
The mere idea of love inspires clichés, but sometimes on screen a love story comes along that harnesses the innate truth upon which the whole tired edifice has been constructed. Writer/director Joel Hopkins (Jump Tomorrow) lays the simple framework of love discovered late in life over the course of a single emotional wreck of a…
Why Focus on YPs?
Young professionals, the creative class, punks who think they own the city … whatever you call them or want to be called, these twenty- and thirty- and sometimes as late as freshly fiftysomethings have been recognized as a key demographic for keeping Greater Cincinnati competitive in a global marketplace. When the young, freshly-out-of-college find this…
A Crash Course in (Real) U.S. History
If we’re to believe most social conservatives today, America’s Founding Fathers were Bible-thumping, fire and brimstone spewing evangelicals who didn’t make any decision without first seeking guidance from prayer. Yet this view of U.S. history has little basis in fact. Instead, all available evidence suggests that George Washington, Ben Franklin and company held a diversity…
Defiance (Review)
This is the week that movies playing the Oscar-nomination game have to put up or shut up. The nominations are revealed on Jan. 22, and movies with lofty ambitions need to be in theaters by then to gain traction. If they get nominations, people already know where they’re playing. And if they don’t, they’ve at…
Marching to a Different Beat
Poet Gregory Corso has been called “The Last Beat.” Indeed, that is the title of a new documentary by Gustave Reininger to be shown as part of the upcoming "I Gave Away the Sky" Corso festival at University of Cincinnati. The festival will consider Corso’s work and legacy through an art exhibition, lecture, poetry reading,…
Another Seven Days of Bailiff Bribes and Soda Bans
WEDNESDAY JAN. 7 Those of us who have been wondering what ever happened to the criminal charges brought against us months ago for being way too good at body rubs were happy to find out today that they might be gone forever. The Enquirer reported that a former bailiff is accused of taking bribes to…
Party on Inauguration Day
Given CityBeat’s readership demographics, we’re betting that most of you are happy that George W. Bush is leaving the White House on Tuesday after eight years that have been alternately scary, depressing and angering. A good portion of our readers are probably even happier that Dubya is being replaced by Barack Obama, the nation’s first…
Obama in Cincinnati
With the inauguration right around the corner, let's recap the Obama fever that swept through Cincinnati.
Bengals’ Old Friends Play for AFC Championship
We’ll never know how the NFL season would have played out if Tom Brady hadn’t busted his knee way back in September, but we can guess that the New England Patriots would have won at least a couple more games and would be on their way to another Super Bowl while a breathless nation takes…
Notorious (Review)
Soul Food director George Tillman Jr. helms this Hip Hop biopic based on the rise and untimely demise of Christopher Wallace (aka Biggie Smalls, aka The Notorious B.I.G.), tracing his early days as a corner dealer to his relationship with Sean “Puffy” Combs (Derek Luke) and Tupac Shakur (Anthony Mackie). Watching newcomer Jamal Woolard valiantly…
Streetcars Drive Economy
Streetcars Drive Economy The streetcar proposal is an economic driver for our city. Businesses will want to locate on the route, and citizens will want to live close to it too. The addition — I should say reintroduction — of streetcars will be a boon for visitors to our city by connecting our various destinations…
Jerry Douglas with The Tillers and Moonshine Drive
A certain vision and drive is required to be a recording artist, and it takes a distinct lack of ego and talent for self-subjugation to be a session musician. An even greater strength of character is necessary to be a producer, to help artists realize their vision without heavy-handed personal involvement. How then to explain…
Rekindle the Spirit With Inauguration
Inauguration Day is finally upon us, fittingly coming at the end of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Given the anticipation so many of us have about Barack Obama’s presidency, Tuesday truly will be the Day the Earth Stood Still. It’s easy to be jaded about Tuesday’s significance, since it feels like Obama has…
Dingle House Irish Pub (Review)
I used to wonder why some bars brand themselves as Irish pubs when they’re not. Wouldn’t it be easier to be Fred’s Bar and not O’Malley’s Olde Ale House? I have to confess that I’ve never been to an actual pub in Ireland, but I have been to several in England and Wales — and…
Manifesto Destiny
Ska just isn’t what it used to be. In the genre’s salad days of the 1960s, it was associated with luminous names such as Toots & the Maytals and The Wailers, who used a fresh and upbeat dancehall aesthetic to energize Jamaica, the sound’s birthplace. Within a decade or two, English bands like The Clash…
Wrestling with Rourke
Best known for complex, visually arresting films like Pi, Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain, Darren Aronofsky scales things back for The Wrestler, the emotionally engrossing tale of Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke). Twenty years after his apex as a popular, Hulk Hogan-esque 1980s wrestler, The Ram is a shell of his former…
David Allan Coe with Dallas Moore Band
Country music is chest deep in guys who have been branded as outlaws, and a few of them have actually lived up to the title. But only one of them has ever written a couple of bona fide No. 1 classics as well as filthy obscurities like “Cum Stains on the Pillow” and “Pussywhipped Blues.”…
Labor of ‘Love’
Singer/songwriter Eric Falstrom has been performing locally for several years, including with the rockin’ Mystery Wagon in the early ’90s. Since then, Falstrom has been working the solo route, releasing his own records off and on since the end of the Wagon. But Falstrom’s latest disc, Love Will Come Through, feels much like a reintroduction,…
Inaugural Jam
“The change, it had to come/ We knew it all along…” — The Who I’m working on the mixtape of a lifetime. This is not, of course, a mixtape in the traditional Hip Hop sense, replete with recycled beats, guest appearances and endless self-aggrandizing promotional drops. My mix is a personal collection of tracks that…
Midnight in France
When she walked into Buddakhan bar and restaurant downtown on New Year’s Eve afternoon, I wasn’t paying attention. Sitting at the far end of the bar, I was busy sulking while drinking a vodka and cranberry. I was thinking of my therapist, who tells me I shouldn’t let other people’s negative energy or behavior affect…
Jerusalem Cafe (Lunch Review)
The old Jerusalem Café (235 W. McMillan St., Clifton Heights, 513-784-0144) was a bit of a hole in the wall, but it has some mythical qualities. Several of my friends get all misty-eyed when they share memories of the previous owners’ spinach and lentil soup or going behind the counter to change the fluorescent bulb…
Winds of Change
As the Age of Barack Obama begins Tuesday with his inauguration as our 44th president, Ohio finds itself tilting at windmills in its quest to reach for the kind of energy-efficient, sustainable, economically healthy future that he believes will get the country out of its calamitous recession. The future could include airships. And plug-in electric…
Update on Reselling Used Clothing
After my recent article about new restrictions on used children’s clothes from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), I received a flood of correspondence from angry and confused readers who were quite upset with the proposed changes. I compiled a number of these emails and forwarded them on to a few email addresses at…
Wednesday Wellness Roundup
Personal Health Fox News: A Brazilian bikini wax nearly kills an Australian woman. Wall Street Journal: States slash health care for uninsured while the Federal government picks up the slack. Finance and Frugal Living The Simple Dollar: The truth about debt elimination programs and why you may not need them. Five Cent Nickel: Moving toward…
