News: Waiting to Be Killed
Margo Pierce Jeff Hill was reluctant to be interviewed on Death Row but agreed at the urging of his attorney, Pam Prude-Smithers. Hill says he has found peace and happiness in the years since his conviction. Youngstown
Locals Only: : The Dandybeards
At times I've been told that I appear unapproachable, intense or aloof. I'd rather study a piano in a restaurant first, then eat. I have another term for it: introverted. I might "stare off" during conversations, appearing to be thinking deeply, when in reality I'm just taking a break. Upon meeting Mandy Stout (vocals, keys,…
Muralworks paints the city
ArtWorks Mark Mallory and Tamara Harkavay unveil Muralworks, a component of Summer Youth Jobs Initiative. I was driving down Central Parkway one morning last week when I noticed Mayor Mark Mallory. He was standing with a group of people in an Over-the-Rhine cranny, behind an official-looking podium and in front of a plain brick…
Sound Advice: : Xavier Rudd and Voxtrot
Mary Sledo Voxtrot Xavier Rudd Sunday · Madison Theater He looks like he just walked off Bell's Beach from the flick Point Break, and he actually did. He supports the land, the water, the people and the spirit sustaining our universe. Xavier Rudd is a musician whose story speaks of his environmental experience and…
News: Collaborate Some More
Sean Hughes Alphonse Gerhardstein, attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, says the Collaborative Agreement is "a work in progress." Cincinnati officials are calling it a "transition period" but no matter how it's spun, the landmark five-year reform deal that ended a class-action racial profiling lawsuit against the city's Police Department is being extended…
Onstage: Feats of Grandeur
Sara Beiting Signs of life: Coven Hoof Theatre invades The Mockbee on Saturday. It's beyond appropriate that the nature of Cloven Hoof Theatre was borne from a demonic Halloween night back in 2004. I speak of Hogscraper's undead bazaar, an experience never to fade in Porkopolis music history. While handlebar-mustachioed Henry McHenry and pig-headed…
News: Scorched Nuts
Graham Lienhart Scorched Nuts isn't just a party but also a way to build a community, according to Angie Asselin. Burning Man, the inexplicable event each year in the remote Nevada desert, has begun taking a regional approach in its quest to open the internationally collective mind. The network that has rapidly spread throughout…
Wishing We Hadn’t Seen the Cop
Graham Lienhart At the gazebo in Burnet Woods, a member of the Columbus Pride Flag Corps prepares for the start of the Pride Alive parade June 10. The smoking lounge for CityBeat employees is the sidewalk in front of the building, which is where three of us were talking June 8 when a disheveled…
Cavs Might Finally Bring a Title to Cleveland, but Not This Year
Jerry Dowling While we hold on tight to see if the Reds compete in a weak division or post the major league's worst record, it's worth remembering, for a moment, that no other Ohio team has won a major pro sports championship since 1964. The same franchise that's headed for its seventh straight losing…
We Demand a Vote
I read John Fox's editorial regarding the jail tax with interest ("New Jail a Taxing Problem," issue of June 6). I thought he did a good job of putting a lot of the difficult issues together into one column. Like him, I'm in favor of some type of jail with new beds, etc. Yet I…
Fay Grim (Magnolia)
Fay Grim 2007, Not Rated 1997's Henry Fool — a prescient look at technology's rapidly invasive impact on daily life — stands as wonderfully obtuse filmmaker Hal Hartley's last great success, thus it should come as no surprise that Fay Grim is a look back. Yes, it's the same Fay (Parker Posey) who was…
Living Out Loud: : Have You Been Saved?
On a hot, sticky Thursday afternoon, I got on the No. 17 Metro to go home. The consulting job had been a bear that day, and I couldn't wait to leave it. The bus was sort of crowded, but there were some horizontal seats left in the front. I took a seat to my right.…
Music: Home on the Road
Robert Earl Keen Robert Earl Keen I doubt if there's a line that sums up Robert Earl Keen's music better than his own bull's-eye description: "I make Country music for people who hate Country music." In pointed contrast to the big-hat-wearin', boot-scoot-boogyin', homogenized Pop music swill that passes for Country music on commercial radio…
Film: The Point of Torture Porn
Lion's Gate Films Heather Matarazzo stars as a tortured pawn in director Eli Roth's latest brutal horror movie, Hostel: Part II. Almost five years ago, a screener tape of Gasper Noe's Irreversible landed in my year-end review pile. The film was set to play at The Esquire at some undefined point, a decision I…
Lookwhos: Look Who’s Eating: Philippe Audax
Graham Lienhart Philippe Audax French-born Philippe Audax graduated from L'Ecole Hôtelière de Paris when he was 18 years old and embarked on a career that would see him working in France, Bermuda, Boston, the White House, Mason-Montgomery and, since 2003, at the University of Cincinnati. To follow the trajectory traced by Audax's career one…
All That Jazz: Special Edition (20th Century Fox)
All That Jazz: Special Edition 1979, Rated R One of the most iconic musical films of all time, Bob Fosse's All That Jazz is an essential dramatized portrait of the man who single-handedly shaped the vernacular of jazz dance. Fosse co-wrote and directed the heavily stylized, choreographed and composed movie about his addictions to…
Heavy Petting (Docurama)
Heavy Petting 1989, Rated R This 1989 documentary about societal attitudes of the 1950s toward teen sexuality follows the Atomic Café template. Archival footage from old sex-education films, Hollywood movies and other sources are presented collage-style to zippy, fun period music. It was meant to amuse then-thirtysomething Boomers about their youth. The problem is…
Music: Boxer Rebellion
Keith Klenowisky Matt Berninger, singer and lyricist for The National, says he and his native Cincinnati bandmates are always trying to outdo themselves on each album. Since their formation eight years ago, there's been very little about The National that could be characterized as standard issue. The quintet of Cincinnatians (vocalist Matt Berninger, guitarist…
2007 Cincinnati Fringe
Joe Civitelio The popular Calculus: The Musical was the "audience pick" at this year's Cincinnati Fringe Festival. The 2007 CINCINNATI FRINGE wrapped up its fourth festival on June 9 with a big party at Know Theatre. The late-evening series at Know's "Underground" bar capped off a run of big crowds with more than 200…
Diner: The Gospel of Good Food
Jeff Fulwiler Mary Jo McMillin "We had a mission," says Mary Jo McMillin, chef/owner of Oxford's former foodie haven, Mary Jo's Cuisine. "We were converting people and proselytizing and spreading the gospel of eating well and homemade." Loyal customers and those who never quite found the time to visit before the restaurant closed in…
Cover Story: Fantastic World
Jon Hughes 'Ignorance is a Form of Terrorism' Gene Kritsky, evolutionary biologist, walked through the museum. With a camera strap around his neck, he listened to the sound of falling water and walked past a model of a child offering a carrot to a squirrel as two model juvenile dinosaurs played just feet away,…
News to Use
The Mayor Will See You Now Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory meets twice a month with anyone who has an issue or problem to discuss with him. "Mayors Night In" is from 5-7 p.m. in the mayor's office at City Hall. Every citizen who attends has a five-minute individual meeting to talk about anything they wish.…
Homage To Cincinnatus
Sean Hughes Have you have ever wondered what exactly that Roman-looking, Pantheon-esque temple on the corner of Central Parkway and Vine is? Ever tried to climb the double staircase to get a better look at the near-nude sculpture? If your answer is yes, don't feel foolish — that's the whole point of Richard Haas'…
Raining Stones (Koch Lorber)
Raining Stones 1993, Not Rated Social and political troubles propel the Everymen in nearly all of British director Ken Loach's films, from the blue-collar blues of Riff-Raff and the injustices served on Los Angeles' Hispanic community in Bread and Roses to the Irish rebellion from British rule in last year's Palme d'Or winner at…
Simply Create Another Way
The way Shane Claiborne reads his Bible, a lot of Jesus Christ's acts cleverly lampooned and satirized the existing order in order to undermine and expose it. Hence Jesus telling collectors to get his tax payment from the mouth of a fish they'd just pulled from the water. What's the victory in collecting taxes from…
Ruling Too Dismissive of Right to Parent
Child custody cases are always among the most wrenching cases courts are called on to decide. A sharply divided Ohio Supreme Court just issued a troubling decision involving a child named Brayden James. It's a case that pits grandparents against parents. The case came to the high court from Hamilton County. When Brayden James was…
Onstage: Dreaming
Suzanne Strawn Onstage Lost In Lamancha Mark Hardy Northern Kentucky University's Summer Dinner Theatre, now in its 27th season, has the formula down pat: It routinely sells out its productions by giving audiences what they love — musicals and comedies. The season opener, Man of La Mancha, offers both in a well-seasoned production. In May,…
Ska Reborn: Take Four
The constant evolution of Ska music has been one of the most fascinating arcs in music history. Begun as a pre-cursor to Reggae, artists like Bob Marley and the Wailers developed the "island" sound. The second wave of Ska formed in the British Punk scene, as artists like Bad Manners, The Specials and The English…
