Morning News and Stuff
Good morning all. Here’s a brief rundown of what’s going on today. City Council’s budget and finance committee yesterday approved pushing more than $6 million in TIF funds into building a parking garage in Oakley. The 383-space garage would serve Oakley Station, which just landed its first big office tenant. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue…
Onstage: Morning Star
Tuesday is the long-anticipated opening of Morning Star, Cincinnati Opera’s first world premiere in more than 50 years. When the lights go up in the School for Creative and Performing Arts’ Corbett Theater, it will mark the culmination of an odyssey spanning more than 15 years for composer Ricky Ian Gordon and his librettist William…
Leftovers: What We Ate This Weekend
Each week CityBeat staffers, dining writers and the occasional intern tell you what they ate this weekend. We're not always proud — or trendy — but we definitely spend at least some money on food. Ilene Ross: For the most part, the BF and I hung out pretty close to home over the weekend due to the fact…
CityBeat Wins Mad Awards 2015
CityBeat writers and designers were recognized last week with seven first-place awards and eight runners up by the Cincinnati chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The awards ceremony recognized work completed during the 2014 calendar year, and it followed announcements of two other journalism contests — the Cleveland Press Club statewide contest and the…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning y’all. Here’s what’s going on in Cincy as we all try to wake up and do work. It’s been a somber few days in Cincinnati since Friday, when Cincinnati police officer Sonny Kim was shot and killed by a gunman in Madisonville. Though I can’t imagine how devastating that loss must be for…
Father’s Day Dining Specials
Fathers don't necessarily get the same brunch love that mom's do when it comes to their special day, but there are certainly local restaurants celebrating dads with dining specials. BB River Boats: Mix it up a bit and bring dad on a brunch or dinner cruise with spectacular views of the skyline. Brunch features French toast and biscuits…
Your Weekend Playlist: The War On Drugs, Lost in the Dream
On Wednesday, June 10, The War On Drugs performed live at the Madison Theatre in Covington, Ky. They slowly becoming one of my favorite artists in just a few short months, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to catch these guys while they were in town, just minutes from my city. This American Indie…
Foreign Film Friday: Chunhyang (2000)
Two cinemas weave — though not seamlessly — together in Chunhyang, South Korean filmmaker Im Kwon-taek’s adaptation of Chunhyangaa, a legendary Korean folktale that follows the journeys of two lovers, one poor and one aristocratic, as they face problems within Korea’s ancient class system. The two cinemas in question are traditional film cinema and pansori,…
Your Weekend To Do List (6/19-6/21)
Tropical Depression Bill is slated to make his way through the Tristate on Saturday (WCPO weather report here) with heavy rains and the possibility of flooding. Many of this weekend's events have been postponed due to weather, including Paddlefest — with the exception of Friday night's River Music & Outdoor Festival at Coney Island — and CityBeat's Porkopolis Pig…
Stage Door: A Good Chance for Laughs, and the Opportunity to Dance the Night Away
There’s not too much theater going on as summer moves in with full heat. But there are enough laughs at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company for several shows with the production of the great 2011 British farce, One Man Two Guvnors. It’s based on a play from the 18th century called The Servant of Two Masters, but…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all. Here’s what’s up this morning.
Council Finally Passes FY 2016-2017 Budget
Cincinnati City Council today passed its FY 2016-2017 budget, a $1 billion spending plan that hews closely to the one drawn up by Mayor John Cranley and City Manager Harry Black, but with boosted human services funding originally left out of the plan. The budget boosts police officers and will spend $110 million on road…
Art: Max Unterhaslberger
As an artist with practically an alphabet for a name, it’s fitting that Max Unterhaslberger hones in on one’s signature as a basis for art. “When handed a pen, what would people write?” he asks. “I think the most common thing is their name. Everything humans do is graffiti — essentially putting your mark on…
Music: Justin Furstenfeld
It’s been 20 years and a lot of hard times since Blue October formed, but Justin Furstenfeld and the gang aren’t done yet. It seems for every plugged-in Blue October show (including a recent impromptu benefit for Texas flood victims), Furstenfeld also makes time for something even more intimate. The shows on his “Open Book”…
Music: Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks is the sound of four guys, each barely old enough to drink legally, having fun doing what they love. Drummer Connor Brodner, bassist/vocalist Jack Dolan, guitarist/vocalist Clay Frankel and guitarist/vocalist Cadien Lake James grew up together on Chicago’s North Side, each a lover of Rock & Roll in its various guises — from ’60s Garage…
Music: David Shaw’s Big River Get Down
David Shaw's Big River Get Down features The Revivalists, The Main Squeeze, Elementree Livity Project and more. Though the band is based in NOLA, The Revivalists’ area stop is a bit of a homecoming. The band’s guitarist/singer Shaw is a Hamilton, Ohio native, and he will be presenting (with his band headlining) David Shaw’s Big…
Music: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Musical provocateur Jon Spencer chose the perfect handle for his new project when it was formed back in 1991 — Blues Explosion — and it continues to accurately reflect the visceral sound and fury emanating from his incendiary trio almost a quarter century later. The Blues Explosion’s numerous releases have been among the most scorchingly…
Music: Beth Hart
Life is a series of defining moments and Blues chanteuse Beth Hart has had plenty in her nearly two-and-a-half decade career. Hart’s latest album, Better Than Home, finds her at her most confident as a singer and songwriter and generating the best reviews of her career. If you’re looking for some of the best contemporary…
Onstage: Il Trovatore
Leading off the Cincinnati Opera's 95th season is Il Trovatore, Giuseppe Verdi’s melodrama based on that old staple of Italian opera known as “la vendetta,” or vengeance. Don’t focus on the plot, which was considered overblown even in Verdi’s day, though it does propel some of Verdi’s most familiar music, including the “Anvil Chorus.” And…
Comedy: Kevin Hart
Kevin Hart, everyone’s favorite little comedian and most likely literally the hardest working man in show business (in the past two years he’s been in seven movies, including Ride Along, The Wedding Ringer, Get Hard and on and on), brings his “What Now?” stand-up tour to U.S. Bank Arena. According to Billboard, “What Now?” is…
Event: Juneteenth Festival
Juneteenth, a national celebration of Emancipation Day and the legal end of slavery in America, will hold its 28th-annual festival at Daniel Drake Park. The nonprofit festival will include historical reenactments (including visits from Abe Lincoln and Harriet Tubman), exhibits, craft demonstrations, live music and a wide variety of food. An amalgamation of June and…
Event: Summer Solstice Lavender Festival
From medicine to aromatherapy or as a fragrant ingredient in everything from cookies to tea, the Summer Solstice Lavender Festival allows attendees to stroll through blooming fields of lavender to pick a bundle and learn about its uses, as well as purchase lavender-infused body and food products. Going hand-in-hand with the herb’s calming properties, three-minute…
Event: Nacht Der Tracht
Slip into your dirndl or lederhosen and dance your way into the roots of your German heritage. Nacht Der Tracht — “Night of the Costume” — is an authentic German dance party held third Fridays at the Christian Moerlein Malt House Taproom. Come in folkwear, dance to Electro and drink some Moerlein beer. 8 p.m.-1…
Event: Jungle Jim’s International Beer Festival
Cure what ales you this weekend as Jungle Jim’s brings more than 400 beers to the table for its 10th-annual International Beer Festival. You can taste (and buy) brewskis from more than 100 breweries around the world while enjoying picnic-style food. Beer buffs and experts will be in attendance to talk shop about the sudsy…
Event: MainStrasse Goettafest
Cincinnati has a lot of regional culinary specialties that non-Cincinnatians find weird (like, you know, Skyline), but goetta might take the cake. Made of ground pork, pinhead oats and spices, Cincinnati’s signature breakfast food has been ingrained into our city’s cultural DNA since it was first invented by German immigrants in the late 19th-century as…
Comedy: Vince Morris
Columbus native Vince Morris has never felt more comfortable on stage. “I have enough material that I let the crowd take me where they want to go,” he says. “I’ll talk about fatherhood or social issues, but I don’t have a strict set list. I don’t like to be too organized.” Raised by a single…
Morning News and Stuff
Hello Cincy. Let’s talk about the news today. It's going to be a crazy one with lots of action, or inaction, at City Hall. Speaking of that: Mayor John Cranley had some choice words about Democrats on council as he took to WLW this morning to discuss the budget. Cranley explained his reasoning behind splitting…
Local Bands Road Tripping This Summer
As many of us are gearing up for summertime trips, several local bands have plotted out “working vacations,” embarking on road trips to spread the word about their music. Here are just a few Cincinnati-area acts with summer tour plans on the horizon: • Electric Citizen turned on a lot of ears last year with…
Mayor, Council Democrats Battle over City Budget
Cincinnati City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee on June 15 wrangled over the city’s upcoming $1 billion budget, passing the operating portion of that financial plan but leaving a fight over capital spending for another day. With two weeks left until the city’s current budget expires, that’s stoked fears about what will happen if a…
Remembering Larry Gross
CityBeat is sad to announce the passing of longtime staffer and columnist Larry Gross, a great friend, an innovative and thoughtful author and a longtime supporter of independent media. He was 61. To honor his memory, we're re-publishing his November 2014 column, "Should I Die Tomorrow," in which Larry reflects: "I have a feeling if…
Continuing Tension
Erica Woods came from Georgia to Cincinnati for answers about her son’s death and found herself marching across the Hamilton Avenue I-75 overpass June 11 with a group of more than 200. Woods’ son, 22-year-old Quandavier Hicks, was shot and killed in Northside June 9 by Cincinnati police officer Doris Scott. His death almost immediately…
Media Musings From Cincinnati and Beyond
It can’t be ignorance; I introduced an Enquirer reporter to the recently reopened Clifton Natural Foods on Ludlow months ago and told him how it was a return to almost the same spot after decades in Clifton Heights exile. But according to a co-owner of Clifton Natural Foods last week, the Enquirer hasn’t written a…
Blurred Lines
Rachel Dolezal’s adopted black brother said: “It all started with the hair.” If she weren’t in the news for being black but really white, I would say that “starting with the hair” would most definitely make the recently resigned president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP a black woman. Because everything begins and ends…
Summer Opera Preview
Twenty years ago, I wrote a cover story about Cincinnati Opera’s 75th season and the pending hire of a new artistic director following a multi-year series of self-studies and community forums. Administrative and artistic staff, trustees and performers were all on the same page when it came to a new administration. They were mindful of…
Event: Porkopolis Pig & Whiskey Festival (POSTPONED)
Due to weather concerns, Porkopolis Pig & Whiskey has been postponed. The new date for the event is 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1. People say there’s nothing quite as American as apple pie, but it could be argued that the national cuisine of the good ole U.S. of A. is barbecue. This weekend, CityBeat…
Music: The Cave Singers
Just as popular Pacific Northwest rockers Pretty Girls Make Graves disbanded in the middle of the last decade, the band’s bassist, Derek Fudesco, unveiled his new, folky project, The Cave Singers, which would go on to prove just as successful as PGMG, if not more so. The band has certainly been more enduring. The Cave…
Art: By This River at the Weston Art Gallery
The Weston Art Gallery hosts an opening reception for a group exhibition curated by Michael Solway, director of the Carl Solway Gallery, featuring six American artists “exploring the sensorial, geographical, historical and ephemeral dispersal of water from rivers to oceans.” The show began as part of an ongoing conversation between Solway and Fluxus pioneer Ben…
Event: Paddlefest Weekend (POSTPONED)
IMPORTANT NOTICE FROM PADDLEFEST: "Saturday’s Paddle of the Ohio has been postponed due to safety concerns. We made the tough call due to rising river levels and the threat of heavy downpours from Hurricane Bill during the morning on June 20. The high water date is Sunday, August 2nd. Packet pick up will be Saturday,…
