Get Lit!: Get Lit
Waiting my turn at Barnes & Nobles, a green paperback caught my eye. It was perched halfway up on one of those impulse-buy stands like gum and candy in a grocery store. On the cover was an illustration of a young woman in a skimpy red outfit balancing on one leg while holding a…
Can You Give Me a U? An N? An I-T-Y?
Where was Charlie Luken's teleprompter when he needed it? The mayor of Cincinnati was on Fountain Square, participating in Unity Day, when he utterly missed his cue. After giving a speech calling for everyone to get along, he left the stage and started working the crowd. This might have seemed good politics — until mayoral…
Brotherly Love
Did you know that a national movement of brotherly love began with a Cincinnatian back in 1903? Difficult to believe, given our current divisive climate of brother against brutha, but it's true. Irvin Westheimer is credited with creating the Big Brother/Little Brother concept in 1903 when he mentored and provided guardianship services to a deprived,…
Holy Roller Coaster
My instinct was to say no. In fact, I did say no. But I said it wrong, tried to be too diplomatic. What I told him on the phone was this: "I don't know if I'm the right person to go with you to Dollywood." As soon as it hit air, I knew I'd blown…
Diner: Let’s Do the Time Warp
Once you cross the railroad tracks in Glendale, take a quick left and then right into another time. Many people have been involved in the renovation of Glendale Village Square over recent years and one of the latest re-creations is Cristof's, found at the site of the former Glendale Tea Room. The night we pulled…
Music: Look What the Cat Dragged In
Poison Unlike other Metal bands whose tectonic rumblings conjure Satan's spawn up from the pits of Hell to snatch your mortal soul, Poison, with its macho-femme brand of Arena Rock, don't need nothing but a good time. As Bret Michaels, Poison's frontman and über-sex-symbol who single-handedly bridged the gender gap years before SNL's "Pat,"…
Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems
"I don't know what they want from me. It's like the more money we come across, the more problems we see."— "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems," Notorious B.I.G. Mayor Charlie Luken waited to cross Race Street on July 16. He was on his way to duck into and out of the Unity Rally — aka the…
Let me tell you what you think
"Guy Ritchie … after the cult success of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the commercial appeal of Snatch, you've been dubbed film's next big director. What are you going to do now?" "I'm going to direct commercials!" Strange as it seems, that is the trend of late. Big name, hot auteurs from Hollywood…
News: Get Off of the Streets
Jymi Bolden Among the protesters on trial are, left to right, Natalie Nguyen, Carwyl James, Catherine Austin, David Mitchell and Molly Lyons. People not only believe this sort of thing but get paid to write it: "In a town where racial tensions can't get much higher, maybe things can begin to smooth out with…
Bassist Scott Ritchie is bouncing his way up the local Jazz sideman ladder
Scott Ritchie As a pimply-faced high schooler, Scott Ritchie was a gifted bass player who didn't know jack about Jazz. All he knew when he went to Louisville's Summer Jazz Workshops, whose mastermind was the famed play-along licks-guru Jamey Aebersold, was that he was crushed by the weight of gargantuan Jazz giants. "There were…
Relationships
Dear Dating Diva, When I first met Dave he worked at a veterinarian's office with a girl named Millie. I didn't like her right off because when I brought my dying cat to the vet's, she would not give me Dave's discount. A girl can tell when another girl is being catty and I got…
Puttin’ Out the Bone
The ride into rusty Mingo Junction — population 4,297 — was slow; the smell and sights of urban death surrounded us. Hovering over the nearly abandoned one-road, two-lane downtown were huge smokestacks that stood as stubborn monuments to what had been. It was Labor Day 1982, and Jerry Springer, with me as his political aide,…
Keith Benjamin’s Downtown Debut
The tower is what pulls me into the Linda Schwartz Gallery at the edge of downtown on West Fourth Street. It's a titanic blur of blues, greens and reds that tickles the top of the gallery's 12-foot ceilings. A closer examination reveals the tower's true identity. Cincinnati-based sculptor Keith Benjamin sliced cereal and cracker boxes…
Affordable Housing
What, if anything, should local government do to increase the availability of affordable housing? CityBeat posed the question to three young political leaders. Charles Tassell, President of Blue Chip Young RepublicansThe term "affordable housing" is a marketing slogan. It's a mantra for those who believe housing is a "right" for everyone, regardless of his work…
News: Science Gone Mad
Jymi Bolden The Radical Animal Rights Army and other activists protest animal experiments. The subject is revolting, and meant to be. "Here is a video of them pumping a monkey full of nasal congestion and cutting it open to see what it did," says an activist who identifies himself as Tomcat. "It's science gone…
News: Boys Will Be Boys
Hamilton County Juvenile Court is retaining jurisdiction over one of the most notorious cases resulting from the April race riots in Over-the-Rhine. At a bind-over hearing July 9, Judge Thomas Lipps rebuffed prosecutors' attempts to try Antonio Montgomery, 15, as an adult. Charged with three counts of aggravated robbery, three counts of aggravated rioting and…
