News: Bidder Beware
Jymi Bolden Sgt. Rick Snow (at podium) presides over a sheriff's auction — something he urges friends to avoid. The conventional method of buying a home is to contact a real estate agent and view several houses before deciding. But there is an alternative. Every week the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office auctions properties that have…
Dead Meadow is a nostalgic trip in excess
Dead Meadow Dead Meadow with The Not, SkeletonWitch and Dead Sea Friday · Southgate House Last year, while perusing a Tokyo (yes, the one in Japan) street vendor's crate of artifacts, my uncle found a bootleg VHS tape of a daylong concert at Crosley Field. The year was 1970, the concert was the Cincinnati Pop…
Locals Only: : Alter Boys
Dale M. Johnson The Cathedrals It's a packed house as the band takes the stage. Girls are lined up in the front two rows screaming, before the first note is played. I turn to my friend and say, "Geez — you'd think it was The Beatles on Ed Sullivan!" But it's not. It's a Saturday…
Diner: Pleasant Surprises
Vivaldi, Puccini and Sinatra were on the Musak at Antonios Ristorante in West Chester the cold weeknight we were there. The tables were set with plenty of silver, napkins in glasses on tablecloths, each topped with a fresh red rose. This was a very good start for what turned out to be a nice evening.…
Survey Says: Whatever
A poll of registered voters in Hamilton County commissioned by Citizens for Community Values shows that 70 percent rank enforcement of obscenity laws to be of high to medium importance. That was just one of the earth-shattering results announced in a CCV press release touting the poll of 513 adults. "Indeed, more than 6 out…
The Race Begins
At the beginning of every leap year, America's political life starts to revolve around the small group striving to attain the nation's highest office. The race to the White House has now begun in earnest, with most people's attention focused on the candidates in the only currently competitive race —for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.…
Living Out Loud: : The Burden of Ex-Communication
Charlie was my answer to Sept. 11. Some people opted for duct tape. I went for sex. Feelings were forged, but Charlie essentially became my two-month long one-night stand. He was designed from a stereotypical masculine gay man floor plan. He came equipped with a live-in closet. His structure was weakened by depression. Too bad…
Feelings of fear often slow us down
What is stopping you from moving forward in your life, changing jobs, ending a relationship, going back to school, etc.? Generally, moving anywhere out of your comfort zone is too much to consider seriously and negativism is a way of life. The underlying force that halts you is fear. In her book Feel the Fear…
Cover Story: Picking Up the Pieces
Andrew Scutro A 10-year-old girl sells candy bars to soldiers in the Green Zone in U.S.-occupied Baghdad. FORT MERCURY, IRAQ — Four days after they'd nearly been slaughtered in an ambush outside Fallujah on the morning of Christmas Eve, Maj. Woody Nunis' shorthanded civil affairs team takes another hit. Driving back the half-hour from Baghdad…
News: Glass Houses
A map from 1927-29 shows the concentration of juvenile delinquency in Cincinnati neighborhoods. For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost. Can neighborhoods be lost for want of a repaired window? And does it matter who fixes that window? An old proverb traces the loss of a kingdom to the loss of a battle,…
Music: Fantastic Voyage
Dale M. Johnson From one-man-band to full-on group project, The Spectacular Fantastic continues to grow. Mike Detmer, local songwriter and musician extraordinaire, heads up The Spectacular Fantastic. The former trio features Detmer on lead vocals/guitar, Jon Sheperd on vocals and guitar, Doug Baum on drums and new addition to the now quartet, Roger Pott, on…
Gays know married life, even if it’s not legalized
Just out of curiosity, are you married yourself? Because if you're not, where do you get off telling married people how married sex should/could be? — Amy K. Maybe you missed the reference to my boyfriend and the Finnish men's swim team in last week's column, but I'm a huge homo. Which means, of course,…
Garage or Opportunity?
Cincinnati is a city of downtown surface parking lots scattered across key sites, a pedestrian skywalk that ends in mid-air on the edge of Race Street, a major street halting beside the new baseball stadium, an unfinished downtown retail building awaiting its top floors — and the dreams of what these half-realized structures might become.…
