WATCH: Smoke Parade’s “Solid Ground” Music Video
Last fall, singer/songwriter/guitarist Taylor Shannon and his band released Another Sad Story, which marked a very successful shift into Modern Rock territory for an artist who, over the course of a decade, had established himself as more of a Country musician. The remarkable EP was one of the best music releases to come out of…
Sound Advice: Weakened Friends with Post Animal (Feb. 4)
Last fall, Portland, Maine Indie Rock trio Weakened Friends released “Hate Mail,” a single featuring guest guitarist J. Mascis. Nabbing the legendary Dinosaur Jr. frontman for a scorching cameo is a pretty decent get for a band that’s barely been around three years. “Hate Mail” is a great platform for Mascis’ guitar voodoo, since Weakened…
Housing Authority Approves West End Purchase Option for FCC
The board of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority last night approved a purchase option requested by FC Cincinnati for rights to buy some 66 vacant parcels in the West End at market value. The plots are on Laurel Park Drive, East Laurel Park Drive and West Laurel Park Drive. Some of the parcels neighbor existing…
Authentic Connections through Nonprofit Starfire Council
Connecting with others can be challenging for anyone. It’s often especially difficult for those with cognitive disabilities, who face barriers most of us never consider. Some may have trouble with conversation, or aren’t able to drive. These issues can lead to isolation and feelings of loneliness, especially for adults. But helping people overcome those obstacles…
‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?’ Gets Successfully Updated by Cincy Shakes
CRITIC'S CHOICE A half-century has passed since the film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? confronted moviegoers with social issues including racism, prejudice and mixed marriage. The story about a liberal, affluent white couple whose impetuous daughter returns home to announce her engagement after a whirlwind romance with an African-American physician both distilled and complicated conversations.…
Preschool Promise names new leader; transit agencies to partner with Uber on traffic data
Hello Cincy! Are you going to check out the super blue blood moon tomorrow? Yeah, it sounds apocalyptic and freaky, but it’s really just the rare confluence of the moon doing several of its regular moon things at once. “Blue” means it’s the second full moon of the month — rare enough on its own.…
‘This Is Us’ Continues to Captivate
The runaway success of This Is Us (9 p.m. Tuesdays, NBC) is something of a surprise, considering network TV’s revolving door of new series and their struggle to compete with flashy cable fare. A second season, dozens of award nominations (including the first broadcast drama series to be up for an Emmy in five years)…
Cincy Winter Blues Fest Expands in Size and Scope
In early January, Blues fans from around the world got a dose of what Ohio has to offer at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tenn., which annually brings together artists from around the world. This weekend, local fans will get a chance to check out those musicians and many more (from Greater Cincinnati and…
The Beer Issue
The Beer Issue Understanding Cincinnati requires a solid grasp of the past and the present: our city continually grows and innovates, while our people hold steadfast to our traditions and heritage. Bridging this divide is our communal love of craft beer. Local breweries played a pivotal role in Cincy’s history, sparking an economic boom at…
Sneak Peak at ‘Green Book’ Film-in-Progress
Recognized as the world’s largest publisher of travel and tourism guides in English, Fodor’s first book appeared in 1936 — the European guide On the Continent: An Entertaining Travel Annual. It was the start of making Fodor’s a household name. Intriguingly, that same year, another guidebook was started — one that has long been forgotten,…
Sonics and Suds
When it comes down to it, live music and craft beer aren’t too dissimilar. They both revel in local flavor, encourage experimentation and spawn dedicated subcultures. Bradley Plank, Jim Klosterman and Joe Sierra, the trio behind Blue Ash-based Fretboard Brewing Company, seek the perfect marriage of their two passions — music and beer — by…
Sound Advice: BoomBox (Feb. 3)
Over the past couple of decades, Electronic music has increasingly become as much a part of the fabric of the eclectic “Jam band” scene sound as extended guitar solos. BoomBox is one of the best representatives of the sonic crossover, because you can easily trace the lineage of the Electro/Funk/Pop project back to Jam icons…
Brewers Give Back
“Beer builds community, and community builds beer.” Mike Stuart, director of people and social strategy at MadTree, takes pride in the brewery’s tagline and makes it a reality through his role facilitating the company’s charitable actions. With his team of brewers and an internal committee, Stuart helps MadTree support four core charities year-round: Give Back…
Listermann Brews a Women’s Day Beer
Craft beer is getting woke. Listermann Brewing Company will honor International Women’s Day for the second year in a row by releasing three different farmhouse ales brewed by women from the local community. On that day — March 8 — the brewery will be donating 10 percent of the female-brewed bottle sales and a dollar…
The Power of Pink Boots
The girls are back in town. And by town, we mean brewery. At breweries across Cincinnati — and the country — women are becoming ever more present on the production floor, in the taproom and even in the classroom, teaching each other about the ancient craft. To be honest, it’s not so revolutionary that women…
New and Coming-Soon Breweries
Understanding Cincinnati requires a solid grasp of the past and the present: our city continually grows and innovates, while our people hold steadfast to our traditions and heritage. Bridging this divide is our communal love of craft beer. Local breweries played a pivotal role in Cincy’s history, sparking an economic boom at the turn of…
Art and Crafts
Have you ever held a craft beer can in your hand and wondered who came up with the artwork? Cincinnati has more than 35 breweries and about half of them bottle and can their beers for distribution. And in the ever-saturating market of cool craft beers, not only does taste matter but so does design…
Sound Advice: Joe Buck Yourself (Feb. 1)
Throughout his 20-plus-year career, Murray, Ky. native Jim Finklea (aka Joe Buck) has consistently aligned himself with the most visceral projects and operated at the highest possible intensity. The band that brought him to the spotlight was Gringo, a rootsy Punkabilly trio with then-girlfriend Leila Vartanian that sounded like whisper-to-scream demos for X in full…
Jewish/Israeli Film Fest Has Poignant Stories
The 12 new features being presented at this year’s Mayerson JCC Jewish & Israeli Film Festival, which gets underway Thursday and continues through Feb. 22, offer a variety of unforgettable stories and characters. Like the festival’s theme —“Faces of Israel”— the movies are rooted in an array of experience and culture. The quirky documentary Hummus!…
The History Behind Cold Beer Cheese
Not all beer cheese is created equal — or served at the same temperature. In Central Kentucky, the way they make their decadent app is a bit different than the process we use in the Queen City, but a local author says: If it’s not cold, it’s not traditional. When the term “beer cheese” comes…
FCC May Get an MLS Franchise — If They Can Nail Down Some Details
Jeff Berding didn’t want to talk about it. And after talking to a few other people who ought to know something, I think I understand why. Outside the current kerfuffle over FC Cincinnati stadium plans, I texted the club’s GM seeking an updated handicap on the issue that could make all stadium plans moot: the…
This Week in Questionable Decisions: Jan. 24-30
This Week in Questionable Decisions… 1. Hillary Clinton had people scratching their heads when, in a video, she thanked “activist bitches supporting other bitches.” Abuela, no! 2. Northern Ireland Secretary of State Karen Bradley compared marriage equality to high-speed internet, saying that the U.K. government would not “impose” same-sex marriage there, “in the same way…
What a Week!: Jan. 24-30
Guggenheim Offers Trump Gold Toilet It’s not uncommon for U.S. presidents to borrow famous pieces of art from museums and galleries to display around the White House. New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art loaned two Edward Hopper works during the Obama years, which were displayed in the Oval Office. So the Trumps followed suit,…
Craft Beer Bingo
It’s the 11th annual Cincy Winter Beerfest at the Duke Energy Convention Center this weekend and that means you can sample hundreds of crafts beers from more than 150 local and national breweries (probably not all at once…). Bring this beer bingo sheet with you if you’re attending and sample your way through these local…
Minimum Gauge: Nikki Haley likes her music without humor or political commentary, like “Who Let’s the Dogs Out?”
HOT: Trump Team Revives “Shut Up and Sing” Trope On the day of the 2018 Grammys ceremony, the Trump administration got into the spirit by offering some indirect, unsolicited music commentary. First, POTUS found time to chide multiple Grammy nominee Jay-Z for not giving him credit for everything he has done for African-Americans. Then U.N.…
Cincinnati natives The National win a Grammy
Capping off a 19-year career climb that has made them one of the top Indie Rock bands on the planet, The National — featuring Cincinnati natives Matt Berninger, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Scott Devendorf and Bryan Devendorf — won a Grammy last night for their album Sleep Well Beast. The album scored Best Alternative Music…
Cleveland Indians will end use of Chief Wahoo logo next year
The Cleveland Indians will remove their long-time logo, a Native American caricature called Chief Wahoo, from their uniforms in 2019, according to Major League Baseball. The logo first appeared on the team’s uniforms in 1948 and since that time has caused an increasing amount of controversy. The decision to remove it comes after pressure on…
Wolf of All Streets: Cincinnati’s Yoni Wolf takes a break from shopping a new TV project to take Why? back on the road
For most musicians, having a band and the attendant writing, recording and touring it entails would be more than enough to occupy the bulk of their time. Cincinnati’s Yoni Wolf is not most musicians. For decades, besides his globally beloved and acclaimed Art-Rap-solo-project-turned-Art-Pop-band Why?, Wolf has been nearly sociopathic in his pursuit of musical adventures,…
Pureval could announce bid for Congress this week; Cincinnati Parks works to tackle its $58 million problem; more news
Hello Cincy. Let’s talk news. Cincinnati Parks have 58 million problems, but the organization hopes a plan to fix them all isn’t one. That’s the cost ($58 million) of the delayed maintenance and repairs facing the city’s park system — six times the $9 million the city is spending to operate the parks this year.…
Reviving a Historic Clubhouse
More than a half-century ago, before “black” and “African-American” became rooted in our lexicon, more than a thousand ladies of the Cincinnati Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs regularly filed into 1010 Chapel St. in Walnut Hills to work for racial progress. They poured into its 17 rooms to discuss clothing drives, scholarships and donations to…
REVIEW: ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ Is Worth Every Cent
CRITIC'S PICK A whole lotta shakin’ is onstage at the Cincinnati Playhouse for Million Dollar Quartet. Back in 1956, when an actual intersection of Pop music icons Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis happened at Sun Records in Memphis, Tenn., there was common wisdom that Rock & Roll was a passing…
Decisive Vote in Park Board Battle Ahead
A judge’s ruling that Cincinnati Park Board Chair Dianne Rosenberg’s term ends Feb. 1 has yet to cool the fight over her spot on the five-member board. Will council go along with Mayor John Cranley’s suggested replacement, appointed Jan. 24, or hold out? Cranley, who wants Rosenberg out, says his push for a new board…
Your Weekend To Do List (Jan. 26-28)
FRIDAY 26 MUSIC: Aimee Mann brings some moody and acoustic ruminations to the Madison Theater. Read an interview here. ART: Albrecht Durer: The Age of Reformation and Renaissance at the Cincinnati Art Museum examines the master’s prints and inspiration. See Big Picture here. ONSTAGE: The Humans If you made it through the holidays without boiling over at a family…
Fifty West Launches Cans
After five years in business, Fifty West has announced it will release its first cans of craft beer on Jan. 30. The initial brews to receive the aluminum treatment? Coast to Coast IPA, American Lager and Doom Pedal White Ale. (More beers are set to launch in the future: Punch You In the EyePA will hit shelves…
Ensemble Theatre’s ‘The Humans’ is a Searingly Tough Family Portrait
CRITIC'S PICK A play titled The Humans doesn’t reveal much about its content. Aren’t most plays about humans? Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati’s set by Brian Mehring for its regional premiere of Stephen Karam’s Tony Award-winning play is an everyday, slightly below-average, two-story living space: Grungy off-white walls, few furnishings, a solitary barred window, two card tables…
Seelbach to run trans issues awareness foundation; Trump sought to fire Mueller; more news
Hey Cincinnati! Things are looking up. It’s Friday. The weather is going to be, as the kids say, bangin' this weekend, bro. Wait, the kids don’t say that anymore, do they? This is why I write about news. Let me get back in my lane. Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach has a new job — running…
STAGE DOOR: Local Stages Heating up
Maybe we should call it the theater thaw. As January draws to a close, local theaters are heating up with productions. Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati opened The Humans on Wednesday. I’ve given this one a Critic’s Pick in my CityBeat review. It’s a drama with a heart, but you have to scrape through some dark moments and…
Bunbury Music Festival 2018 to feature Jack White, blink-182, Chainsmokers and more
Last night at an announcement event at Woodward Theater, the lineup for June’s three-day Bunbury Music Festival at Cincinnati’s Sawyer Point/Yeatman’s Cove along the riverfront was unveiled. The top-line acts for Bunbury 2018 include three amphitheater/arena headliners — Jack White (who presumably won’t have his “no phones” rule enforced?), The Chainsmokers and blink-182. The rest…
Wahlburgers Downtown is Now Open
The wait for a Wahlburger is over. The anticipated burger eatery held its soft opening Thursday… and we obviously went for lunch. The space blends a fast-casual vibe with a sports bar, featuring industrial-style lights, wooden tables and pipe-and-flange shelving with the same kind of bright green chairs and bar stools you’ll see at BurgerFi…
Cincinnati Folk heroes The Tillers announce new album
Local (and, increasingly, regional and national) Folk sensations The Tillers have announced their next album will be released through SofaBurn Records, the prolific Northern Kentucky-based label that has been steadily releasing top-notch recordings by some of Greater Cincinnati’s finest (among other acts) to a national audience. The Tillers’ self-titled full-length is slated for a March…
FCC’s West End moves cause controversy; students scrambling for new school in ECOT fallout
Hello Cincy. Got a minute for some news? Rad. Let’s get to it. Welcome to the latest installment of our soccer-themed soap opera, As the Ball Turns. If you missed last episode, let me get you up to speed. FC Cincinnati was caught courting a neighborhood other than once-favored Oakley, sending letters to Cincinnati Public…
