Council Changes Residency Rules; Sewer District Head Keeps Job
Cincinnati City Council today changed a rule that stipulates which public employees must live within city limits. The move effectively exempts embattled Director of Water and Sewers Tony Parrott from having to move to the city after he was punished in June for misleading officials about his residency. Under the new rules, only the city…
Slice of the Pie
This spring, the ever-burgeoning neighborhood of East Walnut Hills will become home to the city’s first pie bakery when O Pie O opens its doors. The choice to build their first brick-and-mortar shop in East Walnut Hills was a natural one for the Ginocchio family. “Our family goes back a long time there,” says Louis…
Barrio (Review)
B arrio Tequileria proprietor Thomas Placke calls the food at his Northside bar “Tex-Mex plus.” After having a meal there recently, I feel enthusiastic about the “plus” part, which features the house-smoked meats that helped create Barrio’s most delicious taco filling: the beef brisket. That same meat — Placke says they go through about one…
The Wedding Ringer
Kevin Hart kicks off the second year of his box office assault and effort to solidify his status as the next stand-up comic turned mainstream movie star with his version of Hitch. Instead of helping chubby white guys get the girls of their dreams, Hart plays the go-to for grooms in need of best man…
Paddington
From co-writer (along with Hamish McColl) and director Paul King (Bunny and the Bull), we get a live-action translation of Paddington, the story of a Peruvian bear (voiced by Ben Whishaw) in search of a home. The young bear winds up in London, abandoned and alone, until he encounters the Brown family — Mr. Brown…
Blackhat
Michael Mann (Heat and Public Enemies) loves rooting around in the thematics of machismo, and his latest Blackhat, while firmly entrenched in contemporary strife, borrows from Wild West tropes as high-level international anti-terrorist forces cut a deal with a convicted hacker (Chris Hemsworth) to enlist his aid in the global search for a cyber-extremist who…
American Sniper
Continuing the 2014 awards season run of films devoted to true life stories, Clint Eastwood helms this account of the toll of modern warfare on Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), a Navy Seal sniper who earned distinction for having the most credited kills in a war zone during his four tours of duty. The central issue,…
New and Returning Comedies Hijack Wednesday Nights
If you’re in need of a hump day pick-me-up, Comedy Central and FXX have you covered, starting this week. The Workaholics (Season Premiere, 10 p.m. Wednesday, Comedy Central) — Anders, Adam and Blake — are back at college in this fifth season premiere. After giving viewers a collegiate flashback to the group’s origins in Season…
Watching and Interpreting the Lives of Others
The prestige season of 2014-15 at regional multiplexes and art house theaters has offered audiences an esteemed honor roll of names and stories for consideration — from the little-known pages of history (Unbroken, The Imitation Game), science (The Theory of Everything), the arts (Big Eyes), true crime pop psychology (Foxcatcher), the contemporary news cycle (Kill…
Bianca Del Rio Brings ‘Rolodex of Hate’ to Queen City
If the name Bianca Del Rio doesn’t sound familiar, you probably aren’t privy to one of the more entertaining reality shows on TV, RuPaul’s Drag Race. Hosted by its legendary namesake, Drag Race is like American Idol-meets-America’s Next Top Model-meets-Project Runway — with drag queens. The competition show premiered on Logo in 2009, with a…
Robert Stearns’ Lasting Impact on the CAC and Cincinnati Arts
Maybe because Robert Stearns’ leadership of the Contemporary Arts Center was relatively short and long ago, his death in early December from cancer didn’t attract much notice here. He was 67 and died at his home in Palm Springs, Calif. He had been the CAC’s young, enthusiastic director from 1978-82. But in Minneapolis, where he…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
American Idol’s 14th season premiered last week and if you think you shouldn’t care because Ryan Seacrest makes you uncomfortable, you are wrong. Well, not about the Ryan Seacrest part — he is very distracting. Like, why is he still around? How much does he get paid to be a weirdo to young singers? Is…
Sen. Sherrod Brown Proposes Payday Loan Alternative Bill
Ohio’s Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown has introduced a bill that would allow some taxpayers to get a cash advance on their income tax returns instead of turning to so-called payday loan businesses that charge interest rates as high as 500 percent. The proposed program would allow those eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit to…
Ohio Drops Two-Drug Death Penalty Method, Delays Execution
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced Jan. 8 that the state will stop using an execution method that utilizes a combination of the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone. The decision puts at least one execution scheduled for next month on hold. Ohio pioneered use of the two drugs in executions when it…
Cincinnati Entertainment Awards Voting Ends Soon
The 18th annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards ceremony/party, presented by CityBeat to honor Greater Cincinnati’s amazing music scene, is just around the corner. The show — featuring performances by nominees like Young Heirlooms, Buggs tha Rocka, Mad Anthony, Injecting Strangers, The Cliftones and more — is set for Sunday, Jan. 25 at Covington’s Madison Theater. Click here…
From 1965 Selma to Right Now
Readers might assume this a movie review. It is not. Readers might want to get on with it, forget about our recent past, stop drumming up old shit. I cannot. For to be black in America at this particular point in time means reliving brutalities that have come back to stomp us like they did…
Cincinnati vs. The World 1.14.15
“Breastaurants,” or restaurants with scantily clad waitresses (think Hooters) are booming, according to projections from Technomic, a food market research firm. Breastaurants with names such as Titled Kilt, Twin Peaks and Brick House have grown at a double digit pace over the last year, while sales for restaurant chains like Olive Garden and TGI Fridays…
Killing People Is Worse Than Insulting Their Beliefs
It’s been more than a week since the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, and society is already starting to move on. The publication is set to print its first issue this week — 3 million copies with financial backing by multiple government and media entities. The relevance of Charlie Hebdo’s message and the appropriateness of…
Reeling in the Years
I f you want to get an inkling of just how long ago 2005 was, point your friendly neighborhood browser to the “Interviews” page at motioncitymemories.com. That portion of the fan site chronicling the plucky, long-running Minneapolis Pop Punk outfit Motion City Soundtrack houses direct links to Q-and-As with the group conducted by assorted zines…
Chuck Ragan with Jody & Sammy Stapleton
Chuck Ragan has made a unique career out of exploring unlikely paths. The son of a golf tour pro and a Gospel vocalist, Ragan came to prominence in the mid-’90s as co-frontman for Gainesville, Fla., Punk Rock outfit Hot Water Music. After a successful 13-year run, the band amicably parted ways and Ragan began to…
Rodney Carrington
Rodney Carrington is a songwriter and comedian who is not afraid to go “blue,” talking about the things we all experience in life that are of an adult nature. When he brings his show to the Taft, it will definitely not be for those with sensitive ears. Carrington’s approach, which mixes stand-up and original songs,…
Particle with Freekbass
The term “particle” brings to mind microscopic, energetic units weaving together the utterly incredible physical world around us. Perfectly fitting, I’d say, for a band like Particle. The group is colorfully energetic, holding more meaning as a group than as individual musicians, and simply cosmic in some massive way that drives the members to…
Landlady with Animal Mother
If Frank Black had a fever dream about his personal Last Waltz, with a guest lineup that included Pere Ubu, Talking Heads, Dirty Projectors and TV on the Radio, his dreamscape soundtrack would sound a lot like Landlady. And as you might have guessed from that description, not many groups out there sound like Landlady.…
More Great Artists to Watch in 2015
Harbour The small town of Lebanon, Ohio, in Warren County just north of Cincinnati, is known for its quaintness and historical landmarks (like the 212-year-old Golden Lamb Inn). But someday soon it may well be known as the birthplace of Harbour, an incredibly talented young AltPop/Rock band. For only just forming last year (members previously…
Leggy Pop
In 2013, Veronique Allaer celebrated the completion of her political science/philosophy degree from American University by climbing to the top of a three-story building in Washington D.C. for a better view of the Fourth of July fireworks. It nearly became the headline of Allaer’s obituary; in her revelry, she fell off the building. Luckily, she…
Noah’s Arc
While Noah Smith has been playing music in and around Cincinnati for more than a decade, it is only recently that his talent as a singer and songwriter has gotten the attention it deserves. As a result of his reputation for putting on a great live show and the release of his self-titled EP last…
Surfing the Honeyspiders’ Web
Flash back to Cincinnati’s MidPoint Music Festival 2013. I’d hotfooted down to Mainstay Rock Bar to catch the end of Bella Clava’s set, but by the time I found a place to park and hit the club, the notes of the band’s last song were hanging in the air. While chatting up the band during…
Rising Creek
The origins of the five-piece band Elk Creek, nominated for two 2015 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards (New Artist of the Year and Folk/Americana), trace back to Trenton, Ohio. There, musicians Brad Smith, Jeremy Brown and Aaron Price performed together in various configurations before going their separate ways for college. Eventually, all three combined forces again and…
Cincinnati Blues Hits the Road
The 31st annual International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tenn., kicks off Tuesday and Cincinnati will have three acts competing this year against more than 100 artists from across the globe. The Cincy Blues Society sends a pair of performers to the IBC every year via its summertime Cincy Blues Challenge competition. Last year’s local challenge…
Tiger Burning Bright
Liz Wolf’s musical rabbit hole isn’t for the faint of heart, coming on like Portishead with a slightly better disposition but no less emotional baggage. Using the name Dream Tiger, her 2013 full-length debut, SELF, is an impressively cohesive collection of textured electronic soundscapes, each anchored by her voice, which can be both piercing and…
Prim, Not Proper
If there was a Cincinnati Entertainment Awards category for pathologically busy musicians who start new projects to occupy the time normally reserved for sleep or breathing, Prim would take home the bling. The freshly minted Dream/Electro Pop foursome possesses individual resumes that would require a five-point condensed font to fit on a single page: In…
Dazzling Secondly Wages
HOT: Dazzling Secondly Wages For your average struggling musician, Forbes’ annual ranking of the highest paid musicians of the year can either be a soul-crushing revelation or a platinum-carrot-on-a-stick inspiration. This year, the website skyrange.net broke down the numbers to reveal how much each musician made per second, which probably puts things more on the…
Best New Bands 2015
That new artists are the lifeblood of any city’s music scene is a fairly obvious statement. There are many amazing musicians in Greater Cincinnati who are established talents and who have large fan bases and multiple Cincinnati Entertainment Award nominations and wins under their belts. But they had to start somewhere. Everyone was a “new…
Morning News and Stuff
Morning Cincy. Let’s talk about the news. • The big story today is that House Speaker John Boehner’s country club bartender has been indicted for threatening to kill the powerful West Chester Republican. Michael Robert Hoyt was fired from his job at the Wetherington Country Club in West Chester last year, after which he sent…
The Baddest Man
M ike Tyson is one of the more fascinating figures of the last 30 years. During his boxing heyday, he could be tender and incisive one minute, brutal and animalistic the next. The guy was a bipolar mess of neurosis, the result of a broken home and a childhood marked by humiliation and violence. And has…
Loose Change
W orkers making low wages in Ohio got a small raise Jan. 1, as the state automatically raised the minimum companies here must pay workers by 15 cents. But the bump from $7.95 to $8.10 an hour might not be much of a boon to many minimum wage workers. Even as pay goes up slightly…
Music: Chuck Ragan
Chuck Ragan has made a unique career out of exploring unlikely paths. The son of a golf tour pro and a Gospel vocalist, Ragan came to prominence in the mid-’90s as co-frontman for Gainesville, Fla., Punk Rock outfit Hot Water Music. After a successful 13-year run, the band amicably parted ways and Ragan began to…
Comedy: Rodney Carrington
Rodney Carrington is a songwriter and comedian who is not afraid to go “blue,” talking about the things we all experience in life that are of an adult nature. When he brings his show to the Taft, it will definitely not be for those with sensitive ears. Carrington’s approach, which mixes stand-up and original songs,…
Attractions: Bravo the Galapagos Tortoise
The Newport Aquarium’s 650-pound Galapagos tortoise Bravo — the largest turtle in the Midwest — is set to leave his Turtle Canyon home on March 1 and return to the Columbia, S.C., zoo. Upon Bravo’s departure from the aquarium, Turtle Canyon, also home to Thunder, an more than 100-year-old snapping turtle, will temporarily close for…
Literary: Leon Logothetis
It’s been a trying six months for those of us in the human race who prefer to get along, which makes Leon Logothetis’ The Kindness Diaries a welcome balm in an era of such impossible-to-ignore division and violence. The book’s subtitle says it all: One Man's Quest to Ignite Goodwill and Transform Lives Around the…
Event: Pass it On: Continuing the Legacy of Dr. King
The Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition hosts its 40th annual series of events celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The celebration kicks off with the King Legacy Awards Breakfast at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at 8 a.m. ($35). The breakfast features performing arts presentations and the 2015 MLK Jr. Dream Awards for local…
Lecture: Escape of the 28
On April 2, 1853, 28 men, women, and children fled slavery in Boone County for freedom in the North. The 28 were aided by united efforts from the Underground Railroad in Cincinnati, Northside and College Hill. Local historians Kathy Dahl and Betty Ann Smiddy from the Hamilton Avenue Road to Freedom Committee discuss the escape,…
Event: OTR Green Home Tour
Green Cincinnati hosts a series of tours of green homes. The first of eight tours is of Paul Gaitan’s new row house near Washington Park, on track to become a LEED-certified Silver home. Tour attendees receive a swag bag with information about the local U.S. Green Building Council’s Green Living Member Circle, Greener Stock, Building…
Event: Local Local Local 6
You know it’s really local because it’s in the name three times! The sixth annual Local Local Local party at Arnold’s features local music, local beer and local artists hawking their wares. Pints of local craft beers from more than a dozen local breweries will be $3.50, and the head brewers/beer reps/owners/etc. of Christian Moerlein,…
Art: East Meets West at Kennedy Heights Arts Center
Frank Satogata, the Hawaii-born, longtime Cincinnati-based graphic designer and adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati and the Art Academy of Cincinnati, will show the range of his painted and printed work at the Kennedy Heights Arts Center (KHAC) galleries. Arranged within the KHAC to guide viewers through segments focusing on Eastern, Western and a…
Sports: Mascot Broomball Exhibition Match on Fountain Square
Local mascots go head to head — on skates — in the seventh annual Mascot Broomball Exhibition Match on the Fountain Square ice rink. This family-friendly event features an epic showdown between two teams, captained by Northern Kentucky University’s Victor E. Viking and the Cyclones’ Twister. Participating mascots include Mr. Redlegs, Big Boy, Gapper, the library’s…
Literary: Shari Goldhagen
This isn’t Shari Goldhagen’s first rodeo when it comes to book signings in Cincinnati. Born and raised in the Blue Ash area, she now lives in New York. She came back here in 2006 to promote her first novel, Family and Other Accidents. “I was amazed and touched by how many people who I hadn't…
Attractions: Falling Water Gardens: A Modern Work of Nature
The Krohn Conservatory’s early spring floral show takes design inspiration from architect Frank Lloyd Wright (his 1935 modernist Pennsylvania home built for the Kaufmann family is called “Fallingwater”). The show features a Mission-style flowerbed that looks like a stained glass window made of hundreds of pansies, tulips and hydrangeas, as well as real stained glass windows…
Event: Travel, Sports & Boat Show
Fifty-seven years ago, Robert S. “Bob” Hart, Jr. went from being a General Electric worker to a freelance writer on hunting and fishing to the founder of what would eventually become the Cincinnati Travel, Sports & Boat Show. The show carries on with the help of Bob’s son, Bob III, who keeps the tradition of…
Event: Jungle Jim’s Barrel Aged Beer Bash
Drinking a quality beer after work is relaxing, right? Think of all the times beer has been there for you. Well, now it’s time to be there for beer. Celebrate it, love it and appreciate more than 60 types of barrel-aged beer from breweries all around the country during Jungle Jim’s Barrel Aged Beer Bash.…
Onstage: Waiting for Godot
Fans of Seinfeld (this week’s second reference to the TV sitcom) will remember it was a comedy about nothing. But not the first. In 1953, Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s absurdist tragicomedy used the same premise: Two loveably hapless vagrants grapple with the mysteries of the universe, bantering and bickering as they wait in vain for…
Comedy: Dave Coulier
“I took eight years off of doing stand-up,” says comedian Dave Coulier, “and now I am having more fun doing it than I ever have. The shows are sold out, with a lot of Full House fans.” He adds that the fan base from that program ranges from those who watched the show originally to…
Comedy: Bianca Del Rio
If the name Bianca Del Rio doesn’t sound familiar, you probably aren’t privy to one of the more entertaining reality shows on TV, RuPaul’s Drag Race. Hosted by its legendary namesake, Drag Race is like American Idol-meets-America’s Next Top Model-meets-Project Runway — with drag queens. The competition show premiered on Logo in 2009, with a…
Music: Particle
The term “particle” brings to mind microscopic, energetic units weaving together the utterly incredible physical world around us. Perfectly fitting, I’d say, for a band like Particle. The group is colorfully energetic, holding more meaning as a group than as individual musicians, and simply cosmic in some massive way that drives the members to call…
Onstage: West Side Story
When West Side Story debuted on Broadway in 1957, critics agreed that the show would influence the course of musical theater — especially Jerome Robbins’ imaginative use of choreography to deliver the emotion and momentum of the modern-day retelling of doomed lovers, inspired by Romeo and Juliet. With Leonard Bernstein’s Jazz-infused score and Stephen Sondheim’s first…
Music: Landlady
If Frank Black had a fever dream about his personal Last Waltz, with a guest lineup that included Pere Ubu, Talking Heads, Dirty Projectors and TV on the Radio, his dreamscape soundtrack would sound a lot like Landlady. And as you might have guessed from that description, not many groups out there sound like Landlady. …
Music: Wale
One of today’s top Hip Hop artists, Wale, started his rise to international acclaim in the mid-’00s when his track “Dig Dug (Shake It)” became a big local hit in his Washington, D.C. hometown. Super-producer Mark Ronson put him on a remix of Lily Allen’s “Smile” and signed Wale to a production deal in 2007,…
Morning News and Stuff
Morning y’all. I know, I know. I skipped our news rundown yesterday, but I had a good excuse: I spent some time at City Hall finding out about poverty-related challenges facing Cincinnati in the new year and efforts to address those issues, which I’ll be reporting on in-depth soon. In the meantime, let’s play catch…
Horse & Barrel Bourbon House Opens Downtown
After a long history with bourbon, the Tavern Restaurant Group (The Pub, Nicholson's, deSha's) recently opened their latest bar concept in the former Bootsy's/Walnut Street Grill space across from the Aronoff downtown: The Horse & Barrel Bourbon House. Inspired — and named after — the former award-winning bourbon bar (named one of the world's three best bourbon…
West Side Story (Review)
When West Side Story debuted on Broadway in 1957, critics agreed that the show would influence the course of musical theater — especially Jerome Robbins’ imaginative use of choreography to deliver the emotion and momentum of the modern-day retelling doomed lovers, inspired by Romeo and Juliet. With Leonard Bernstein’s Jazz-infused score and Stephen Sondheim’s first…
Your Weekend To Do List (1/9-1/11)
Wow. Such stuff. Much do. So fun. … BEER: The Tap Room Trolley In advance of February’s Cincinnati Beer Week, the Tap Room Trolley takes happy imbibers to six different Cincinnati breweries. The guided bus tour lasts approximately seven hours with three different routes — A, B or C — to take you to different alcoholic parts of…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all. It’s Friday! But you already knew that. Here are some things you may not already be aware of. Today is full of statewide and national news, but there’s at least one interesting local story happening right now. A Cincinnati company is following in the er, tire tracks of rideshare companies like Uber and…
Stage Door: Alternative Theater & More
The tragic suicide of Leelah Alcorn a week ago has drawn attention to the challenges faced by transgendered individuals. All the more reason that you ought to head to Know Theatre (1120 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine) on Friday or Saturday evening at 8 p.m. for Rebecca Kling's Fringe Encore performance of Something Something New Vagina. Kling's…
Ohio Ceases Two-Drug Execution Method
In the sudden realization that like, hey, maybe we shouldn’t put people to death if we don’t really know what we’re doing, Ohio has dropped its two-drug execution method and will delay an imminent execution. The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction today announced that it will stop using the method utilizing a combination of the…
From the Copy Desk
Afternoon, readers! So, there weren't many Words Nobody Uses or Knows in this week's issue. Our writers must not have been feeling so pretentious. Honestly, I found two, and one word was defined by the author IN the article. But it's just too great of a word to pass up in, so I'm going to…
Morning News and Stuff
Morning y’all. I’m not going to comment on how cold it is this morning, because you probably already know. Instead, I’m just going to say I cannot feel my feet. Anyway, what’s up today? Glad you asked. One of the protesters arrested at a Nov. 25 rally in solidarity with Ferguson, Mo., pleaded guilty to…
Chris Arduser Delivers Again with ‘Flibbertigibbet’
Late last year, veteran multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter Chris Arduser released the latest addition to his stellar discography, a new solo album titled Flibbertigibbet (yes, it’s a real word, meaning “a flighty or excessively talkative person”). Arduser is known for his work as the drummer/singer/songwriter in psychodots and The Bears, as well as being the frontman for his…
Collective Espresso Expands to Northside
Collective Espresso now offers two of the city’s finest coffee shops found off the beaten path. Owned and operated by Dave Hart and Dustin Miller, Collective Espresso’s original alleyway location off Main Street in Over-the-Rhine quickly established itself as a worthwhile destination for caffeine-cionados. They’ve branched out with a second location between Happy Chicks Bakery…
The Weekly Juicery (Review)
D isclaimer: I am not fully on board with the juicing trend. Perhaps it’s because I enjoy eating too much, or perhaps it’s because when someone calls a liquid combination of romaine lettuce, lemon juice and cucumber “delicious,” I just can’t relate. The Weekly Juicery, however, while enthusiastically committed to the juicing concept, is about…
Taken 3
It all comes down to this supposedly final installment in the Taken series, with Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) taking on the challenge of clearing his name, when a mysterious figure from his past attempts to frame him for the murder of his ex-wife (Famke Janssen). When franchise creator Luc Besson first introduced audiences to Mills,…
Selma
Director Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere) and newbie screenwriter Paul Webb wisely choose a key and pivotal moment in the Civil Rights struggle — the epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965 — to serve as the focal point in their exploration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So often…
Inherent Vice
Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson reteams with Joaquin Phoenix (The Master) for this adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel, set in 1970, about a hapless Los Angeles detective named Larry “Doc” Sportello (Phoenix). Doc starts off investigating the disappearance of a former girlfriend, but (thanks to his drug-addled state) winds up spiraling further down a rabbit hole…
Not Those Kinds of ‘Girls’
With Lena Dunham’s omnipresence in the media between the build-up for and release of her book Not That Kind of Girl and her controversial Tweet/hair color/relationship du jour, it’s easy to forget we’re due for a new season of Girls (Season Premiere, 9 p.m. Sunday, HBO). But Hannah and friends are back for another round…
The Future Is Now: A Sneak Peek at the Year
As a critic or cultural commentator, you are required to turn the page, flip the switch, or do whatever you have to do as quickly (and as smoothly) as possible when it comes to year end/new year coverage. There’s precious little time to waste waxing nostalgic about the recent cinematic past because the future doesn’t…
Redeployment
Phil Klay’s extraordinary short story collection Redeployment, winner of 2014’s National Book Award for fiction, chronicles America’s ill conceived, futile and costly Iraqi occupation. But on a deeper existential level, these stories address good versus evil, human suffering, mercy and, ultimately, the existence of grace. Based on his experiences as a U.S. Marine in Iraq,…
Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good
Every New Year offers the opportunity to look forward to the future, reflect on the past and consider those who have enriched our lives. And that’s exactly what Michigan native and best-selling author Kathleen Flinn does so well in this engaging memoir of food, love and what she calls her “unremarkable and utterly fascinating” Midwest…
A Theater for You?
Did you resolve to see more theater in 2015? If so, where to start? If you don’t know a lot about specific plays, consider the audiences that local theater companies serve. If you match up, then pick a show in the next few months and check out a performance. The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park…
Ready to Happen
A t the five-year mark, a band can begin to wonder if they’re making an impact, and perhaps even consider a musical (or even a career) course correction. You won’t find any such speculation within the ranks of Let It Happen. The Cincinnati quartet may have taken five years to release their first full-length, last…
G-Eazy
If Gerald Earl Gillum was an actor, he could probably score a role playing little brother to Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal or Edward Norton, since there’s a little bit of all of those guys floating around in his intense visage. But Gillum’s gig isn’t in front of the camera, it’s behind the mic and, as…
Who Takes the GED?
A few words on this week’s cover story about Ohio’s changes to the General Educational Development (GED) test. The piece first appeared in the Cleveland Scene, and it's a great, well-researched read. We did some significant reporting to localize it for Cincinnati, not all of which made it into the final article. The GED is…
10 String Symphony
In April, I found myself at North Carolina’s MerleFest watching the “Hillside Album Hour,” an annual mid-festival event where Classic Rock band The Waybacks recreate a classic album with an all-star group of artists. At the most recent MerleFest, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s great Déjà Vu record was brought to life by the host…
Sound & Shape with Day Camp and Sweet Ray Laurel
E ither there’s an evolution/revolution going on down in the hills of Tennessee or someone has spiked the water supply with a chemical blend of adrenaline and amphetamine, because the Riff Rock sounds emanating from the state these days could strip the bark off a redwood tree at 50 paces. The latest case in point…
Behold the Brave with Pluto Revolts
It’s not the least bit surprising that Chattanooga, Tenn.’s Behold the Brave left its mark on the assembled multitude that gathered to witness its blazing MidPoint Music Festival set in Cincinnati at Mr. Pitiful’s last year. The band’s skronky Psychedelic Blues with a side of Soul and a sprinkle of Pop melodicism was an easy…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all! My colleague, CityBeat arts editor Jac Kern, just got engaged over the holiday and there’s champagne everywhere in the office right now. Congrats! Now I’m going to try to power through the distraction to bring you the news because I’m a soldier like that. So the streetcar contingency budget, which is set aside…
By Any Other Name
Joshua Alcorn was born a boy but reportedly felt “like a girl trapped in a boy’s body” since he was 4 years old. And so far, there’s been little besides judgment and speculation about this teenager who stepped in front of a semi-tractor trailer on I-71 in the early morning of Dec. 28 to end…
He’s Never Heard of You, Either
HOT: He’s Never Heard of You, Either During a fan Q&A last month, Paul McCartney was asked if he ever imagined he would one day be in history books. McCartney said when he actually found out he was in one of his kid’s history books, he said, “What?! Unbelievable, man!” It seems as if a…
Cincinnati vs. The World 1.7.15
A record 104 women will serve in the 114th Congress, which convened for the first time on Jan. 6, the AP reported. A total of 96 racial minorities will serve the Congress as well, and for the first time African-American members of both genders will represent both parties. World +2 Eight Cincinnati neighborhoods, including Evanston,…
Worst Week Ever!: Dec. 31-Feb. 6
Can You Believe What Duke Did to the “Cincinnati” Sign? America thrives so much on controversy and flooding comment sections of online articles with statements so stupid that your first instinct is to check the poster’s profile to make sure you don’t have any friends that are friends with them. Recently we’ve seen events and…
The Giant GED Gap
S y Ohur pores over an article with a tutor at the East End Adult Education Center on Eastern Ave. Before going to work at the Hyatt downtown Monday through Thursday, he shows up here to work on English and other subjects he must master to pass Ohio’s General Educational Development (GED) test. It’s a…
Family Matters
E mmanuel Gray was a 19-year-old student at the University of Cincinnati when he came out as transgender six years ago, first to his peers and trusted mentors at school, then to his parents. Gray, who grew up in Clifton, always felt a bit unsettled as the girl his parents named Emma. “I didn’t know…
Cinderella (Review)
Critic's PickThink you know the story of Cinderella — wicked stepfamily, pumpkin coach, charming prince, glass slipper, happy ending? A new version, currently onstage at Downtown’s Aronoff Center, blows the fairy dust off that old tale (which could probably be told in a half hour) and the result is an entertaining, contemporary-feeling musical. It began…
MamLuft&Co. Dance Brings Mixed Repertory to Aronoff
Coming off a successful fall touring season with performances in Chicago and Roanoke, Va., the eight modern dancers of MamLuft&Co. Dance take the Aronoff stage this weekend for the company’s first mixed repertory concert. On the bill are short-form adaptations of imaginative full-length favorites from the last three seasons. Subject matter ranges from a “dance-for-camera”…
Making Waves
S an Francisco used to be a destination for aspiring artists until the high cost of living started driving creatives away. In its wake, suddenly Cincinnati’s affordability and desire for artists have pegged us as a potential new art frontier. Artists Calcagno “Cal” and Geoffrey “Skip” Cullen had both gotten their M.F.A.s from the…
