Art: Old Masters to Impressionists: Three Centuries of French Painting from the Wadsworth Atheneum
The Taft Museum’s Old Masters to Impressionists: Three Centuries of French Painting from the Wadsworth Atheneum is precisely the kind of intimate show this venerable institution does so well. Drawing upon the collection of Connecticut’s Wadsworth Atheneum — America’s first public art institution — the exhibition surveys exceptional works from the 1600s through the early…
Onstage: Arsenic and Old Lace
When I was 10 years old, my parents let me stay up past my traditional bedtime for the first time to watch a late-night movie: It was Frank Capra’s 1944 classic comedy, Arsenic and Old Lace, starring Cary Grant as the perplexed and recently married Mortimer Brewster. I still laugh out loud when I recall…
Your Tuesday To Do List
There's free action on Fountain Square every day this summer. Tuesdays are American Roots night, with plenty of live Americana/Folk/Bluegrass music kicking off at 7 p.m. each week. Tonight's lineup includes Magnolia Mountain and Wild Carrot & the Roots Band. Find a full lineup for American Roots Tuesdays and more Fountain Square events here. Knowing…
Music Tonight: of Montreal, C.O.C. and more
Indie Funk Pop greats of Montreal's live show is like Prince and the Spiders from Mars doing Mummenschanz, and it's so entertaining, everyone should see the band live at least once in their lifetime (even if you hate all music, the band's theatrical presentation is something to behold). If you still need to cross "see…
The Afghan Whigs Book Cincinnati Show
Before its current successful run of reunion concerts across the globe, The Afghan Whigs played its final live show at a New York City club called Hush on Sept. 29, 1999. But that was a private concert. The Whigs last public appearance was Sept. 25, 1999, at Cincinnati's Bogart's with special guests Howlin' Maggie. (The…
Delfeayo Marsalis Sextet featuring Victor Goines
Remember Gummo Marx? The stage-shy businessman was rarely recognized as a sibling of the anarchic Marx Brothers, and in some ways, that paradigm holds equally true for Delfeayo Marsalis. Eclipsed by his more famous brothers — staunchly traditional trumpeter Wynton and garrulous saxophonist Branford — the gifted trombonist has released only a quartet of albums…
Morning News and Stuff
The ever-debated, never implemented property tax increase will continue to be nonexistent, as will a new police station, playgrounds, some public pools, Music Hall renovations and certain street repavings and building demolitions, according to The Enquirer. Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan will make the deciding vote against City Manager Milton Dohoney’s proposed tax increase, which would add…
Yeasayer
A recent (no doubt comprehensively researched) study revealed that Brooklyn-based band Yeasayer was the most blogged-about artist of 2010. “That’s not really a quantifiable thing in the way I think about myself,” Yeasayer bassist Ira Wolf Tuton says while laughing when asked in a recent phone interview about that unique achievement. “But without blogs, without…
These United States
Jesse Elliott, who shares DNA with Johnny Appleseed, pursued a variety of ventures — international human rights law, economics writing, community non-profits, deli service — before returning to songwriting, his first and best love. Pastrami-on-rye and human rights’ loss was our gain, as Elliott formed These United States and embarked on a sonic mission to…
Over the Rhine to Play Free Washington Park Concert
Veteran, internationally-acclaimed Cincinnati band Over the Rhine will be performing a free concert on July 22 in Over-the-Rhine (the neighborhood). The group is kicking off a series of "grand opening celebration" concerts this summer at the newly renovated Washington Park, which took 18 months and $48 million to complete. All events are free and open…
Review: The Dirty Heads’ ‘Cabin By the Sea’
I usually shy away from album reviews, but when I opened the FedEx package on my doorstep and found the new Dirty Heads album, complete with promotional rolling papers (presumably to accompany the album), I decided to take a second look because obviously this was intended to take my worries away and make everyone feel…
Another Cincinnati Landmark?
Cincinnati Landmark Productions (CLP), operator of the Showboat Majestic and owner and operator of the Covedale Center for the Performing Arts, is looking to expand its entertainment empire with a new facility in East Price Hill, not far from the Primivista Restaurant. At a meeting today with the East Price Hill Improvement Association, representatives from…
Buffalo Killers Debut New Track at Relix
Powerhouse area power trio Buffalo Killers will have their fourth album, Dig. Sow. Love. Grow., released nationally by Alive Naturalsound Records on Aug. 7. The album will be released on CD and digitally, with a limited edition orange vinyl version available through Bomp! From the press release: Dig. Sow. Love. Grow. is a heady synthesis…
State Officials Determined to Assess Fracking Potential
Imagine: You take your children to the park for a leisurely stroll beside some calm lake waters. You're looking for pure, unadulterated nature; an escape from the industrial hullabaloo that is city life. Instead, you find several areas of the park blocked off, occupied by massive machines sucking out shale and oil through the process…
Welcome Back, Summer
Every year spring turns to summer and CityBeat produces a summer guide previewing the season’s various entertainment and cultural offerings, but it’s not every summer that there’s so much to do in this town. From a reinvigorated regional music festival schedule to impressive public art projects to embarking on a physically challenging adventure, it should…
Watch/Listen: Walk the Moon Premieres New Album, Videos
Local RCA Records recording artists Walk the Moon surprised fans today by announcing that they have teamed with video service VEVO to premiere its new, self-titled album, which hits stores this coming Tuesday. The album is being premiered as a "series of officially unofficial videos, hand-made, band-made by yours truly without a film crew or…
Your Weekend To Do List: 6/15-6/17
Whether you’re celebrating your dad, the end of slavery, a local pork product or just a welcome break from work, there are tons of events in store this weekend. Buckle up! As always, the Midpoint Indie Summer Series is a superb way to kick things off. Tonight The Seedy Seeds, Wymond Miles and Belle Histoire…
Review: Gossip’s ‘A Joyful Noise’
Over the past dozen years, Beth Ditto and Gossip have finetuned their lo-fi Indie Rock presentation into a wild pastiche of fist-pumping Punk, funky Soul/Pop and Indie Dance Rock, with a stage component that blends campy theater of the absurd with thrift store chic. Ditto and guitarist Nathan Howdeshell have never forgotten their Arkansas roots…
Stage Door: ‘next to normal’ Is Back
If you missed my recommendations last September about seeing the Tony Award-winning musical next to normal at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, you have a reprieve. Starting today, the show is back for a two-week revival. It’s the story of a woman struggling with paranoid schizophrenia and how it affects her family; that might not sound like…
Review: The Black Belles at The Comet
The Comet was packed Tuesday night in anticipation of seeing Nashville band The Black Belles and the Belles didn’t disappoint. These women sure have created an identity for themselves. At any point, you could spot them somewhere in The Comet; they were hard to miss with their long black hair, black clothes, black hats, pale…
Hot 100 Days
Wednesday, June 13 School and work can be tough, but following it up with PARTY IN THE PARK is always fun. Drinks and live music will ease anyone after a rough day. Happy hour prices run from 5-6:30 p.m., but by no means does the party have to end then. Different bands play every Wednesday,…
Public (Art) Inquiry
As the mercury begins its steady ascent and the humid days give way to sultry nights, the climate-controlled environs of Cincinnati’s art galleries beckon. But with the spring season nearing its end and several galleries paring back their programming, despite best efforts to beat the heat, this summer’s hottest works are going to be found…
Summer Sticks in the Mud
For many folks, first-person video games offer all the thrills they need. But others crave the tactile realness of an actual obstacle course with knotted ropes to climb, mud pits to crawl through and walls to be surmounted. The typical ingredients of adventure races include a military-style course, a river of mud and whatever torture…
A Bunbury Out of the Oven
Ten years ago, after the first MidPoint Music Festival — that’s when you can trace back the origins of Cincinnati’s upcoming three-day live music extravaganza, the Bunbury Music Festival. After launching a festival that continues to grow (today under the guidance of CityBeat’s events department, which took over five years ago) and shine a light…
Music Tonight: Sonny Landreth, Wintersleep and More
Slide guitar icon Sonny Landreth performs tonight at Oakley's 20th Century Theater with locals Monkeytonk opening things up at 8 p.m. (doors open at 7). Tickets are $22. Our Brian Baker says, "Landreth’s swampy yet razor sharp slide guitar riffs are as singularly identifiable as a fingerprint and as beautifully impressionistic as a Monet watercolor,"…
The 55s Play “Honky Tonk Thursdays”
New local Country band Jeremy Pinnell and The 55s — featuring Pinnell, the former frontman for The Light Wires, The Brothers and The Sisters and other local favorites, back on the mic — has started a new weekly gig at The Avenue in Covington, one of the rising venues on the local scene for area…
Morning News and Stuff
Ohio political season will be in full force today as Mitt Romney visits a manufacturing company in Carthage to discuss the manufacturing industry and trade, Barack Obama will be in Cleveland talking about the economy and Rob Portman, a candidate to be Romney's vice presidential running mate, will be in Washington D.C. telling the Faith…
Recent Bengals Moves Look Surprisingly Solid
Are we living in some kind of strange new world where down is up, dogs live in harmony with cats and the Bengals are a well-run organization? Because it appears that the Bengals, long the butt of jokes not just here in Cincinnati, but nationwide, are making — gasp — sensible and shrewd decisions. In…
The Too Feel-Good Vibe of ‘Hysteria’
I’m sure that at some point during last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, some outlet in the world referred to Tanya Wexler’s Hysteria, which humorously probes into the birth of the vibrator, as “a feel-good” story, so I will shamelessly insert my own play on this idea. I must, because the premise simply demands this…
‘One Nation Under Dog’ Kicks Off HBO Summer Doc Series
HBO’s Documentary Films Summer Series presents a different intriguing, timely film each Monday through July 30. The series covers a vast array of topics, from social issues to pop culture, each with a unique perspective. First up is One Nation Under Dog: Stories of Fear, Loss and Betrayal (9 p.m. Monday), a three-part documentary that…
Mayberry (Review)
Chef Josh Campbell knows something about spinning plates. Over a three-year span, he manned the World Food Bar at Findlay Market, opened Mayberry’s original location on Vine Street, tried his hand at a small grocery on Seventh Street and experimented with a flatbread concept in The Skinny Pig. All but Mayberry are now footnotes in…
Ninth Annual Cincy Fringe Sets Records
The most successful Cincinnati Fringe Festival since the annual event’s launch in 2004 wrapped up on June 9, boasting a nearly 9 percent increase in overall attendance compared to 2011, from 7,177 to 7,728. More than 230 artists performed, and the number of sold-out performances, 24, set a new record. As the Fringe looks to…
Chris Abani’s Vehicle for Hope
The theme of The Mercantile Library’s Harriet Beecher Stowe Lecture series is “writing to change the world.” Few writers live up to that idea better than Chris Abani, who was imprisoned in his native Nigeria after the publication of his first novel, 1985’s Masters of the Board. (The Nigerian government said it incited unrest.) That…
Patti Smith Is Coming to CAC
Word has started to get out that Contemporary Arts Center’s 2012-2013 season will feature a major show by Patti Smith. But it hasn’t yet been made clear — because the show isn’t scheduled until next May — that this is meant to be far more than just a local stop on a national museum tour. …
Tweet Victory
M any popular comedians are recognized from TV performances, movie work or perhaps a radio program like The Bob & Tom Show. Or maybe they have a popular podcast like Marc Maron or Jimmy Pardo. Rob Delaney has become one of today’s hottest comedians without any of that. Most comedy fans know Delaney strictly from…
Review: Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s ‘Americana’
It has become both fashionable and profitable for artists in the later stages of their careers to release albums comprised of old standards or covers of instantly recognizable Pop hits. Leave it to Neil Young to follow that convention and then knock it upside its head. On Americana, Young resurrects Crazy Horse, his longtime and…
Court: UC’s Free Speech Policy Unconstitutional
The University of Cincinnati lost a court battle yesterday when a federal judge ruled that the public university's decision to restrict all "demonstrations, picketing, and rallies" to a Free Speech Area was a violation of the First Amendment. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black ruled that containing the area in which students and outsiders who…
Bonnaroo and Erykah Badu
Shocking ’Roo The folks at Bonnaroo managed two great surprises this year. For the “Superjam” curated by The Roots’ drummer ?uestlove, singer D’Angelo — who disappeared from the public eye after his initial fame a decade ago — joined the group for a roll through tunes by Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Ohio Players and Funkadelic.…
Cincy Blues Challenge 2012 Winners
On June 3 at Dunlap’s Germania Park, the Cincy Blues Society once again hosted the daylong Cincy Blues Challenge, with dozens of regional Blues acts performing from noon-9-ish, all competing for a chance to represent the Queen City at the International Blues Challenge 2013 in Memphis. The day started out with contestants in the “Solo/Duo”…
Pop Art
I t’s been four years since Santi White (aka Santigold) dropped her stellar, genre-juggling debut. Some might think that is a long layoff between albums, especially in a fickle contemporary cultural landscape that moves quickly and without concern for those who don’t try to keep up. Not for White, whose need for quality control and…
Cincinnati vs. The World 6.13.12
A Minnesota high school student was recently forbidden from wearing black and silver rosary beads in support of his breast cancer-stricken grandmother because school officials said the beads could symbolize gang membership. WORLD -1 Duke Energy Ohio filed a notice to increase gas and electric rates for consumers by an overall $130 million. If approved,…
Watch: Behind the Scenes of Ill Poetic’s “Gone”
A few weeks ago, CityBeat was honored to premiere the music video for Ohio Hip Hop artist (and occasional CityBeat contributor) Ill Poetic's Cincy-focused music video for his new track, "Gone." Today, Ill Poetic is allowing us to show you something very cool first — a behind-the-scenes mini-documentary about the shoot titled "A Piece of…
Media Ethics and Missteps 101
Journalists do stupid things. We err, eavesdrop, plagiarize, fake stories and indulge in coverups that, were anyone else doing it, would leave us roaring with pitying laughter. When we get caught, it’s our version of “stupid criminal tricks.” We also tell you about these missteps, these ethical failures and sometimes criminal acts. That’s why it’s easy…
Worst Week Ever!: June 6-12
WEDNESDAY JUNE 6 Less than a month after its cancellation, rumors have surfaced about the filming of a CSI: Miami episode that will air next year. Favored by those who have difficulty following the bigger words and more complex plot lines featured on Law & Order, the series was cancelled after running for 10 years.…
To Black Fathers & Their Daughters
I write this to the slurred black icky thump of D’Angelo’s “Devil’s Pie” (I know I/was born to die/searching to find/peace of mind), pausing occasionally in my writing cockpit to look up at the grainy, overdeveloped black and white Polaroid of my parents on the Hamilton porch of my girlhood home. There is no phantasmagorical…
Skimp My Ride
Don’t talk about my car. You know how guests on “talk shows” like Maury or Jerry Springer will literally break a chair over someone’s head if they mention the former’s mother? That’s how I feel (internally, thus far) when others try to bring up my ride. Here’s the deal: A 1991 Honda Accord, my car…
Coalition to Ban Dog Auctions Drops Ballot Initiative
Amid fundraising problems, the Coalition to Ban Ohio Dog Auctions (CBODA) has decided to drop its November ballot initiative to ban dog auctions in Ohio. The organization, which has been pushing against dog auctions and puppy mills since 2006, originally gathered 118,000 signatures to present a bill banning dog auctions to the state legislature. The…
Threat of Closure Looms for Pleasant Ridge Small Businesses
Rumors surrounding the fate of beloved Pleasant Ridge small businesses including Everybody’s Records and Gas Light Café have been bubbling as of late, ignited by claims that drugstore chain Walgreens has expressed interest in purchasing the property in favor of demolishing the existing architecture to make way for a new, deluxe Walgreens location. Everybody’s Records,…
Morning News and Stuff
Mitt Romney will visit the Cincinnati area this week: tonight at a private fundraiser at the Hilton Netherland Plaza, Thursday at a Carthage manufacturing comany and this weekend to hang with Rep. John Boehner up north and probably with Sen. Rob Portman at some point. President Obama plans to be around soon, too. Economists say…
Gays, Even Christians, Need Not Apply
I t all happened so swiftly. Jonathan Zeng had been offered the job. He was the best man for it — the school had chosen him. Its leaders welcomed him warmly. They shared the same Christian values, it seemed; they shared a love of children and Zeng was ready to start as a music teacher…
