Five Big Questions with Greg Landsman
City Council’s three newcomers will have to wrestle with a number of tough questions now that they’ve been sworn in. CityBeat reached out to each — Republican Jeff Pastor and Democrats Greg Landsman and Tamaya Dennard — to ask five in particular. You can find Dennard’s responses here. Now it’s Landsman’s turn. Pastor’s responses will be…
Murals with a Message
Editor's Note: Last year will go down as one of the most divisive in recent memory — but not on the streets of Cincinnati. Led by BLINK and ArtWorks, the public murals program took a markedly progressive leap forward — in message, in design, in sheer presence — from what had come before. We saw…
Morning News: will The Banks get a concert venue? Sheriff Jones won’t run for Senate
Good morning Cincy. Here’s a quick update on news stories going on today. Could riverfront project The Banks get an outdoor concert venue this year? Hamilton County officials say they’d like that to happen, and county records show construction on a $20 million indoor/outdoor music pavilion could begin as soon as March. Hamilton County attorney…
Fast-Casual Indian Coming to OTR
What started as a two-wheeled food cart has pumped the brakes on mobility as Injoy Street Food, a Queen City pioneer of fast-casual Indian cuisine, is set to launch its first brick and mortar in Over-the-Rhine. Injoy will open its doors later this month at 1400 Republic St., replacing the former picnic-and-pantry shop Bottle &…
Hunting for Hot Chocolate
Cafés are mostly associated with a range of coffee-inspired beverages, but instead of caffeine, you can also turn to the cup-of-joe’s often overlooked, sweet cousin that will keep you just as warm this winter: hot chocolate. Disrobe yourself of pretension and take a sip of the best Cincy has to offer — trust us, these…
‘I, Tonya’ Sees Infamous Skater as Victim
Why is now the right time for a feature film about the infamous incident that turned figure skater Tonya Harding into a cultural villain? In 1994, two men associated with Harding attacked skater Nancy Kerrigan, hoping an injury would keep her out of the Winter Olympics. Afterward, the U.S. Figure Skating Association permanently banned Harding…
What a Week!: Jan. 3-9
I’m. Cold. Move over polar vortex — “bomb cyclone” is the new scary storm du jour. Basically it means everyone was cold AF last week. Winter Storm Grayson — which sounds like it was named after the toddler son of a Real Housewives star — brought snow, ice and frigid temps across the East Coast…
‘Black Mirror’ Evolves in Season 4
With just a few weeks’ notice, addictive sci-fi anthology Black Mirror debuted its fourth season on Netflix just before the end of 2017. While the seasons are short (the first two featured just three episodes each, plus a Christmas special; since its move to Netflix, seasons have doubled in size), the deliciously dark Twilight Zone-inspired…
Holocaust & Humanity Center to Move
The Holocaust & Humanity Center, founded by Holocaust survivors and their families, has been a presence in Cincinnati since 2000 with its educational programs and small museum. It currently has space inside Kenwood’s Rockwern Academy, a Jewish community day school. It has steadily developed a following — on my recent visit, people slowly but continually…
Cincinnati Ballet Makes ‘Bold Moves’
As the Cincinnati Ballet gears up for the second half of its 2017-18 season, the company has a number of exciting endeavors in store. Particularly notable is Bold Moves — the company’s April 26-29 production at the Aronoff Center — because it’s affiliated with the MusicNOW festival helmed by Bryce Dessner of the band The…
A Sweet Musical About Pies
A pie recipe can seem simple. Jenna, the beleaguered pie-maker at the center of Waitress, lists the essential ingredients in the first song of the touring Broadway show, at the Aronoff Center for the Arts now through Jan. 21: “Sugar. Butter. Flour.” Of course there’s more to a winning pie, just as there are many more…
Morning News: UC sued over security fees for Spencer visit; local basketball team ends season early over racist jerseys
Good morning all. Here’s what’s happening in the news today. Our new Cincinnati City Council had its first big decisions to make yesterday at its Budget and Finance Committee meeting. All council members are part of that committee, so all got to weigh in on a proposal to raise city property taxes to pay for…
Cincinnati’s Siegelord continue to surprise with its beautiful, dark, twisted Metal fantasy
As any attendee of the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards will tell you, many of Cincinnati’s musical elite have eccentric fashion sensibilities. But at the most recent ceremony this past November, even those hardened by years of musical debauchery were caught off guard by Cincinnati-based Heavy Metal trio Siegelord’s choice of garb. The musicians’ attire of black…
R.I.P. Wilbert Longmire (1940-2018)
As 2018 was just getting started, Cincinnati lost another music hero. Beloved Soul Jazz guitarist Wilbert Longmire died on Jan. 1. He was 77. Born in Alabama, Longmire’s family moved to Cincinnati when he was 3. Longmire’s early career (beginning in the ’60s) included King Records studio work and stints in the bands of organists…
Sound Advice: Ratboys with Nnamdi Ogbonnaya (Jan. 14)
A cursory glance at Ratboys’ name alone might give the impression that the band follows the long tradition of crusty, gob-launching ’70s Punk bands raging at the cause of the day and playing at a volume that raises nails from the floorboards and drops loose plaster from the ceiling. That would be a long way…
Sound Advice: Umphrey’s McGee with Big Something (Jan. 12/13)
While Umphrey’s McGee sounds suspiciously like a disease in a Charles Dickens novel (“Ooh, he’s caught himself a dire case of Umphrey’s McGee and he’s tits up for sure…”), the band’s name is actually based on lead vocalist/guitarist Brendan Bayliss’ cousin named Humphrey Magee. Beyond that little factoid, there are other interesting résumé notes on…
Sound Advice: St. Vincent (Jan. 11)
“Pills,” the catchiest song on Annie Clark’s Pop-centric latest album as St. Vincent, is also one of her most alarmingly self-referential. Clark delivers the following in a clipped, staccato vocal that’s worlds away from the rather traditional falsetto found on her 2007 debut, Marry Me: “I spent a year suspended in air/My mind on the…
Minimum Gauge: Cassette Sales Still on the Rise in 2017
HOT: Tape Sales Keep Rising The year-end sales numbers for 2017, as expected, showed that vinyl album sales continued their upward trajectory, selling more than 14 million units throughout the year, the highest total sales for vinyl since Nielsen Music’s beginnings in 1991. The more unlikely format that continues to see sales soar (relatively) is…
Mandel drops out of Senate race
Republicans hungry to extend their control of the U.S. Senate — or at least keep it — are down one conservative warrior after Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel last week dropped his bid against Democrat U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown. Mandel says his wife is suffering an unspecified ongoing health concern and that he will need to…
Federal Court Upholds City’s Responsible Bidder Requirements
The city of Cincinnati can require companies with which it contracts to offer health benefits and job-training programs, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 4. The ruling overturns an earlier decision by U.S. District Court Judge Mike Barrett on a 2014 lawsuit brought by Allied Construction Industries. Allied says the requirements, which…
Homecoming, MusicNOW Unveil Initial Lineups
The initial lineups for The National’s new Homecoming music fest and its member Bryce Dessner’s continuing MusicNOW suggest April 27-29 is shaping up to be a major three-day weekend for music in Cincinnati. The National, featuring Cincinnati natives who later found success as a band in Brooklyn, N.Y., announced the Homecoming festival in December and…
Ramen Monday Pop-Up at the Northside Yacht Club
Chef Hideki Harada — formerly co-owner and chef at Kaze OTR — and his wife Yuko are slated to open Japanese gastropub Kiki in College Hill at the end of May/beginning of June. To get people a lil' amped up for the menu of Asian bar food — which will include items like Japanese fried chicken,…
Should Media Interview Richard Spencer?
Do you interview a visiting white supremacist before his speech? Or a nativist? Or a neo-Nazi? Or Jew-hater? Or white-hating African-American? Or anyone whose identity-based grievance expresses itself in hate speech? Cincinnati reporters must face that question if alt-right leader and white nationalist Richard Spencer comes to speak at UC in March. If Spencer agrees,…
Stage Door: Notes on Cincy Theater in Early January
Not much theater onstage this weekend aside from Mariemont Players production of Steven Dietz’s play, Becky’s New Car (opening tonight and running through Jan. 21 at the Walton Creek Theatre, 4101 Walton Creek Road). If you’ve been a Cincinnati theatergoer for a few years, you might remember this show in a 2010 production at Ensemble…
Morning News: civil rights groups call for “accountability” for FOP president; U.S. Rep. Massie gets Dem challengers
Hello all. Let’s get some news out of the way on this frigid Friday. Civil rights groups are calling for “accountability” for Cincinnati’s Fraternal Order of Police President Dan Hils. In a resolution released last night, the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP, The Urban League of Southwestern Ohio, The Sentinels Police Association, the Cincinnati Black…
Considering Unpopular Bengals Coaching Decisions
1-800-621-8383. That’s the Bengals Ticket Hotline, provided today so that dear readers of this column will not miss out on the upcoming and great 2018 season. The “8383” numbers correspond to “TDTD” on your keypad, and you figure to score big for football entertainment, especially if you can snag some of the great seats that…
An Ohio chief justice scorned
A legal maneuver to wrest more than 500 medical malpractice lawsuits from a stand-in Hamilton County judge has spurred a withering retort from Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and spawned a second wave of accusations that her oversight of the cases is corrupt. The escalating dispute stems from court claims that Dr. Atiq…
Cincinnati Pop/Rock allstars tackle The Who’s playful early masterpiece
On Jan. 6, 1968, legendary British Rock group The Who released its third album in the U.S., The Who Sell Out, a collection of songs interlaced with commercial jingle parodies that would go on to become a favorite among Who fans and music critics. Though not held together by any particular narrative thread, its “concept…
Morning News: What will become of downtown’s Macy’s location?; Sessions to rescind federal no-interference policy on legal weed
Good morning all. Here’s some quick news for you today. Yesterday the news dropped that Cincinnati-based retail giant Macy’s will soon be closing its downtown location at Fountain Place. That’s a big deal for several reasons. Macy’s splits its headquarters between Cincinnati and New York City. The company has its flagship store in the Big…
And the Nominees Are…
Before you can look ahead to the new movies released in 2018, you first have to look ahead to the Academy Award nominations and selections for the best movies of 2017. It is the biggest movie event of the year, after all, and a lot of the favored candidates won’t even be opening here until…
The Golden Age Continues
We’re amid a golden age in television, with no shortage of shows coming in 2018. While we likely won’t see new seasons of Game of Thrones, Stranger Things or Big Little Lies until 2019, there’s a lot of must-watch TV to look forward to this year. One of the biggest hits of 2016, Westworld was…
Vote for Best of Cincinnati 2018
It's time for the 22nd annual Best of Cincinnati readers poll. Your votes will determine the area's best restaurants, bars, arts organizations, retail stores, services, parks, media personalities, sports teams, politicians, causes and urban experiences. The ballot is organized into six major sections: Eats, Shops & Services, Arts & Culture, Music & Nightlife, Sports and…
Maybe This Year Will be Funnier
It was a funny year in general in 2017 — if you consider the way comedians took after Donald Trump and his administration. Stephen Colbert languished in the ratings until his evisceration of Trump made him the top-ranked late-night host; Seth Meyers managed a similar tactical feat. In a recent Mojo interview, Randy Newman said…
After exploring other styles, Jonny Lang returns to more straightfoward Blues Rock
Jonny Lang says his new album, Signs, is an example of just letting an album be what it wants to be musically and allowing the process to flow naturally. “I don’t know what will come next,” Lang says. “But yeah, this one was just the record that felt right in this season of my life.”…
From Emily Dickinson to Pink Floyd
There is a staggering number of exciting Classical music concerts coming up in 2018, everything from Early Music to new compositions, with an opera based on Pink Floyd’s The Wall in the mix. This year also marks the centennial of the birth of the late Leonard Bernstein, the great American composer, conductor, educator and activist.…
Five Big Questions with Tamaya Dennard
City Council’s three newcomers will have to wrestle with a number of tough questions after they’re sworn in on Jan. 2. CityBeat reached out to each — Republican Jeff Pastor and Democrats Greg Landsman and Tamaya Dennard — to ask five in particular. First up is Dennard; responses by Landsman and Pastor will be published in…
What a Week!: Dec. 27-Jan. 2
SpaceX Launch Sets SoCal Sky, Internet Ablaze A SpaceX rocket launch in Southern California the night of Dec. 22 created quite a buzz when it left a crazy trail in the night sky. Popular Science explains that the rocket passed through an area in the atmosphere where the air was very cold and dry, causing…
Morning News: surprises as new council clocks in; Macy’s to close downtown location; library board trustee resigns
Good morning all, and welcome to the first morning news update of 2018. Let’s get to it. Cincinnati inaugurated its new city council yesterday, and Mayor John Cranley dealt some surprises in picking folks to lead its committees. All three newcomers — Democrats Tamaya Dennard and Greg Landsman and Republican Jeff Pastor — will lead…
Local Theaters Will Have Many Worthwhile Shows to See This Year
Now that it’s 2018, it’s time to start mapping out theatergoing for the months ahead. If it’s Broadway hits you seek, plan to see two touring productions coming to the Aronoff Center for the Arts: Waitress (Jan. 9-21) is about a woman who bakes pies and struggles to find happiness (based on a 2007 movie);…
Terracotta Army to Occupy Art Museum
Move over, Fiona. The baby hippo — now almost 1 year old and more than 600 pounds — was Cincinnati’s new arrival of the year in 2017, enchanting and exciting zoo visitors with her unusualness, mysterious beauty and compelling survival story. In 2018, the warriors of China’s legendary Terracotta Army may fill Fiona’s role. Some…
Coming Soon: Anticipated 2018 Music Releases by Cincinnati Artists
Looking back at some of the top albums and EPs released by Cincinnati musicians in 2017, it’s clear that 2018 has its work cut out for it if it wants to best the previous year. But as several of the area’s biggest artists announce new projects, that prospect seems more and more likely. • Cincinnati…
Culinary Prophecy for 2018
Foodie magazines and other media outlets have been predicting the hottest food trends for 2018. And many of the augurs are crafting their forecasts by interpreting end-of-year reports from major grocery chains, including Whole Foods and Britain’s Waitrose (a posh U.K. supermarket that sells things like quail eggs and frozen truffle mac and cheese). While…
