News: Art As Development
Kathie Hickey, renaissance Covington, Inc The city of Covington is trying to make it easier for artists to mix paint, wedge clay, practice scales, choreograph dances, craft dialogue for the stage or string together paragraphs for a chapter in a novel. Plans are underway for the development of a new arts district, the Artisan's…
Pop life with Visionaries and Voices
Victor Strunk Visionaries and Voices goes Pop in its current exhibition, a colorful collection of work by "outsider artists." Outsider art is controversial. Some theorists claim that "pure" outsider art can only be made when the artist hasn't been exposed to art history or contemporary culture. But that belief assumes that somewhere there exists…
Locals Only: : Slant
Slant At 18, lightning-sky vivid, vocalist Michelle Korn laughs more than she talks, maintaining a sparkly presence. Numerous crimson-blonde waves dance around the edges of her fiery red hair. Known for creative stage antics, Korn's outgoing vibe leaks into the atmosphere of her songwriting as well. Mixing unapologetic lyrics with a playful approach, she…
Singer/songwriter explosion!
· The "Songwriter Night" that has taken place at Allyn's Cafe every Tuesday night for a decade has been part performance showcase, part local music scene networking haven and part hangin'-out-with-musical-friends hotspot. Local producer/singer/songwriter/guitarist Brian Lovely ran the night for the first four years or so, then Eric Diedrichs (singer/songwriter, then for The Simpletons, now…
Onstage: Review: Nixon in China
Ken Howard Nixon in China As directed by Cincinnati Opera first-timer Kevin Newbury and conducted by Kristjan Jarvi, also first-timing at Music Hall, John Adams' Nixon in China (1987) emerges almost as much a theater piece or a concert as it is an opera. Actually, it's an artful blend of words and music — with…
Film: Review: You Kill Me
IFC Films Tea Leoni and Ben Kingsley star in John Dahl's You Kill Me. Since director John Dahl's early successes in neo-noir — Kill Me Again, Red Rock West and the brilliant The Last Seduction — it feels as if he disappeared off the radar, especially in the wake of the slew of Quentin…
Music: The Nashville Network
Forget Cassettes (above) and other bands on Nashville's Theory 8 Records have made the Cincinnati club circuit their home away from home. It's not unusual when a local label and its resident bands find a wildly receptive audience and enjoy some measure of grassroots/word-of-mouth success. It is unusual when the label and bands are…
News: A Legal High
Sean Hughes Legal for now, salvia is a potent hallucinogen available in local stores. Salvia is a recreational drug that has highly disorienting, hallucinogenic effects, and it's legal in 45 of 50 states, including Ohio. It has slowly crept into the drug culture since it began to be sold commercially in the mid-'90s and…
Crowded House: Time on Earth (ATO)
CROWDED HOUSE The nearly universal acclaim that greeted the 1987 release of Crowded House's eponymous debut album was an appropriate response to the infectiously joyous Pop that permeated every perfect note of every compelling song on the album. As the trio of Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and Paul Hester grew physically (ultimately adding Tim…
Film: Oscars in July
Keri Russell's performance (center) in the sweet-natured Waitress was a highlight of the first half of 2007. Hollywood has figured out two ways to get people excited about movies. In winter, from the holiday season until February, it promotes good movies — often quirky, challenging indies or releases from major-studio "classics" divisions — by…
Sound Advice: : The Detroit Cobras, Silverstein and The Mudkids
The Detroit Cobras The Mudkids The Detroit Cobras with Willowz Wednesday · The Mad Hatter In the current Pop climate, where American Idol cultivates a talented class of karaoke singers in order to pluck one from their number and bestow upon them a career of recording hot tracks provided by song doctors, it's hard…
Blame and Shame
The other day CityBeat News Editor Gregory Flannery posted this on the Porkopolis blog on our Web site: "I don't support the troops. Supporting the troops means supporting what troops do — namely, kill people." That's a pretty bold statement, even for Greg, who's known to be a little out there on political matters. Then…
Announcing the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards theater nominations
Sandy Underwood Michael Bath and Elizabeth Davis starred in ETC's Opus which picked up seven CEA nominations. This week's issue of CityBeat discuss the 11th annual CINCINNATI ENTERTAINMENT AWARDS, the only local theater awards program that's driven by critics and gives theater audiences a chance for their voices to be heard. Every year a…
Glad They’re Not Like Us
Sean Hughes Nathan Singer sang, "If God is on our side, then God is wrong" at Sidewinders in Northside. A study sponsored by the Cincinnatus Association has good news about racial integration in Greater Cincinnati, showing 14 communities have been integrated for more than 20 years. A monthly newsletter from Housing Opportunities Made Equal…
Living Out Loud: : I Don’t Need an Exorcism
When I get home from work, I sometimes morph into a couch potato. Particularly, I like CSI: New York. I keep hoping that Stella and Mac will get it on. They never do, but those bastard writers have me hooked. Nice job. A while back, I turned on Without a Trace. As a writer, I…
Health Care Needs Help
Regarding the Letter to the Editor "Michael Moore Is Sick" (issue of July 4), since the U.S. officially assumed the role of Evil Empire in Iraq, more and more people have grown "sick" of our morally bankrupt imperial capitalism. Still, there never seems to be a shortage of demagogues trying to scare people into sticking…
Lala, Warners shatter music-sharing glass ceiling
Oliver Meinerding Imagine sharing your whole music library. Not just with friends and family, but anyone on the Internet. What if major label tracks were playable on any computer or player? What if the whole shebang wasn't intentionally crippled and even sounded decent? No, Napster hasn't risen from the dead, but the company that…
Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton: Knives Don’t Have Your Back (Last Gang)
EMILY HAINES AND THE SOFT SKELETON When Emily Haines last performed with Metric in Cincinnati, she wore a black, homemade dress riddled with angled slits. Enough holes to show skin, but still remarkably classy. With too-long bangs shielding her eyes, Haines danced like a tripping robot, sweating alone in her zone, untouchable. But on…
Lookwhos: Look Who’s Eating: Lisa Kagen
Graham Lienhart Lisa Kagen Lisa Kagen, owner of Melt in Northside, has an approach to health that goes beyond eating well. Learning her way through the stress of opening her restaurant, developing a successful staff and balancing her home life has given her a philosophy: "The best thing to eat is humble pie." CityBeat:…
Cover Story: Relief in Sight?
Cincinnati Reds Relief In Sight? The Reds changed managers rather desperately last week, as if they just didn't know what else to do. But they reached the bottom, taking their beatings every night, and they couldn't just sit there and take it any more. In times of duress, baseball clubs traditionally fire managers. Sometimes…
Live Earth
HOT Live Earth Rocked! Minimum Gauge had a little multi-media party last Saturday to experience the global Live Earth concerts without actually having to leave the house. We know we should have turned off the AC, but, well, let's just say even Al Gore would have his house at arctic temps if he had to…
News: Rearranging the Books
Joe Lamb Changes at the Main Branch Library will improve service, according to Greg Edwards, library services manager. But some staffers are concerned that expertise in various disciplines will make way for "a mall atmosphere An increased reliance on technology is propelling the main branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County…
Art: Review: Leaving the 21st Century
Weston Art Gallery Joseph Winterhalter's "Untitled (Necropolis)" is part of his current exhibition, Leaving the 21st Century, at the Weston Art Gallery. Joseph Winterhalter calls his current exhibition at the Weston Art Gallery Leaving the 21st Century. Leaving? Whoa, we just got here, didn't we? Winterhalter, whose affinity toward modern French philosophers underlies all…
Diner: Review: Encore
Joe Lamb Encore Bistro & Bar Among stately homes with well-manicured lawns, Encore Bistro & Bar emerges modestly from the shady trees. With its creamy exterior and broad roofline, this Encore clearly isn't like its siblings, which generally inhabit strip malls along busier commercial corridors. Recently transitioned from its former incarnation (Sturkey's), we asked…
Wellness Directory
As an ardent student of consciousness and spiritual growth for more than 30 years, books have played a major role in my development. The following books were significant in my growth: · Be Here Now by Ram Dass Ram Dass (Dr. Richard Alpert) was an associate of Timothy Leary's at Harvard University in the 1960s…
Passengers and Traffic Stops
Cases involving traffic stops always interest me because of the potential constitutional implications from something so simple. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures. When a driver is stopped by a police officer, there has been a seizure. So the Fourth Amendment has been implicated, although not necessarily…
Meat Puppets: Rise to Your Knees (Anodyne)
MEAT PUPPETS More than 25 years ago, guitarist/songwriter Curt Kirkwood embarked on a rare musical journey with Meat Puppets, his Arizona trio, which would encompass both great influence and relative success. Embracing a fiery Punk ethic while incorporating blistering Blues Rock, rootsy Americana and high-desert Psychedelia, Kirkwood and his compadres (brother/bassist Cris Kirkwood, drummer…
Exchanging Ideas About Needles
I've drawn water out of a toilet. Water puddles. Spit. She pushes long hair over her shoulder, and her tattoos glow in the night spotlight of a coffeeshop patio. If I was sitting in the room with one other person who I knew had an infectious disease, it didn't bother me. Because I…
Getting involved in your community: News to use
Protect Kids from Enlistment Help young men and women learn the truth about the war in Iraq so they can resist the temptation to enlist in the U.S. military. The Before You Enlist Campaign meets from 6-7 p.m. July 18 at the Peaslee Neighborhood Center, 214 E. 14th St. in Over-the-Rhine. For more information, call…
