Mulberry Trees
When you think of food that grows on trees, a few obvious fruits come to mind: apples, cherries, peaches… But what about mulberries? To the enterprising urban forager, mulberry trees, found across the eastern and central United States, are like a giant, free snack bar. Ignored by most, their branches are loaded with mildly sweet,…
Blind Faith, Blind Budgets
Sean Hughes Bill Clinton Cincinnati City Council is basing a major budget policy that could cost taxpayers up to $8 million annually on data from a study they haven't seen in its entirety and have been blocked from obtaining. As council begins setting priorities for the 2007-08 city budget, a five-member majority has endorsed…
Music: The Outlaw’s Son
James Minchin III While Country radio doesn't "get" him and Rock plays a big role in his music, Shooter Jennings proudly defines himself as a "Country" artist. The children of celebrities can have a difficult time establishing their own identities, but the children of icons often have an even harder path, especially the ones…
D. Lynn Meyers
Matt Borgerding Multiple CEA winner D. Lynn Meyers has announced Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati's 2006-2007 season. The best surprises are worth waiting for, a fact proven annually by ENSEMBLE THEATRE OF CINCINNATI (ETC). Artistic Director D. LYNN MEYERS often brings up the rear in announcing her upcoming season — but she does so with…
Music: Frampton Goes Pops
Dan McCabe Now living in Cincinnati, it makes perfect sense for Peter Frampton to make his orchestral debut here. It would seem that there's very little left for Peter Frampton to accomplish in his storied career. He was a star at 16 with The Herd, an international sensation with Humble Pie at 19, and…
News: Good Cop
Matt Borgerding Scott Crawford presents Officer Dana Jones with a token of appreciation at the June 5 gathering of the Clifton Town Meeting. It's good to have a few regular people to take your issues to: friends after 5 p.m., colleagues before 5 p.m., psychologists, pastors, neighbors, the police. The police? As the neighborhood…
Movie Theaters Becoming Inclusive
When I was growing up, I had only one friend who was blind. Gayle lived across town and went to a different school, but we had far more in common than limited visual acuity, being more or less typical, bright, energetic teenaged girls who loved to talk about clothes and boys and music and books…
Upcoming Concert Reviews of Ani Difranco, Lyrics Born, Glue and More…
Lyrics Born Lyrics Born Drakkar Sauna Ani DiFranco with Hamell on Trial Wednesday · Coney Island's Moonlite Gardens If there is a poster child for how to run a successful career doing whatever you damn well please, independent of the archaic and repressive machinations of the established music industry, it is most assuredly Ani…
Cover Story: Jump Into the Fire
Rough Trade Records Despite baffling critics, brother/sister duo The Fiery Furnaces have a growing base of fans who follow right along with every eclectic whim. Eleanor Friedberger recognizes the polarizing effect that she and her brother Matthew, in the form of their singular Indie outfit The Fiery Furnaces, are having within and beyond the…
Whose Free Speech Being Protected?
Last week Larry Gross wrote in his Living Out Loud column about The Dixie Chicks ("Not Ready to Make Nice," issue of June 14-20), "Apparently, I don't know much about Country music and its audience here. They seem not to support freedom of speech." Freedom of speech does not equal freedom from the consequences of…
Cover Story: ‘High’ Times
Matt Borgerding When they're all awake, Cincinnati's The High and Low dream up haunting, primal, lo-fi soundscapes. The High and Low need some attention. Their fashionably wallflower-ish demeanor and their circle of recognizable musical friends are no doubt intriguing. But if you want to get the whole picture, you'll need to sit down with…
Wedding Sequel
I'm trying to figure out where the cameras are. I feel like I'm starring in the sequel to Four Weddings and a Funeral, a project that could provide a nice boost to the local economy and the regional profile to counteract the struggles we seem to be having with our various development projects. It's the…
Cover Story: Desdemona Festival
Scott Schafer GHOSTFACE KILLAH Event and Ticket Info here FRIDAY · STAGE 1 (P&G Pavilion) · 4 p.m. (IN)CAMERA Featuring members of lauded Cincinnati music faves like The Wolverton Brothers, Roundhead and Blanco Nombre, (in)camera flaunts a shimmying, shimmering Electro Rock vibe, with dance-y Post Punk rhythms, layered keyboards, airy-to-dirty guitars and perfect, dreamy…
A DIY Approach to Main Street
Main Street is dead. Main Street's dormant. Main Street's in a cycle. Main Street's waking up. It's the end. It's the beginning. It's the beginning of the end. No, it's the end of the beginning. It's a cycle. It's a rebirth. It's something we can easily classify. No, it's still seeking an identity. According to…
News: Who’s in Charge?
A political tug-of-war about civilian oversight of the Cincinnati Police Department might be heating up again between city council and police supervisors. Police officials and Cincinnati's interim city manager have quietly abolished a key change approved by council two years ago about who controls some of the money that police seize from criminals. Although council…
UC, Henry and Big Ben Take Turns Being Irresponsible
Jerry Dowling Only in the cardboard discourse of sports page morality would Ben Roethlisberger and Chris Henry be equated for committing the ethical sin of "irresponsibility." Meanwhile, a real case of irresponsibility went unremarked when the University of Cincinnati traded one vice for another. Companies making basketball shoes, athletic wear and campus wear are…
Diner: Spice Island
Gajah Wong Go: 3937 Spring Grove Ave., Northside Call: 513-591-3935 Hours: 5:30-9 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 5:30-9:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Prices: Moderate Payment: Major credit cards accepted Red Meat Alternatives: Tofu and tempeh Accessibility: Yes Grade: A- Craig and Rue Congdon had an Indonesian import store full of furniture, folk art and rare artifacts, but business was slow.…
Film: Colonial Collapse
Accusoft Gabriel Byrne (left) and Nicholas Hoult are father and son in Wah-Wah. The death throes of an empire are never pretty to watch, but they're an absolute unicorn leaping over a rainbow compared with the twitch of the marital death nerve in Richard E. Grant's semiautobiographical directorial debut. Grant, the actor, is best…
Living Out Loud: : That Caring Thing
Have you ever seen something that your brain refuses to recognize? I live in a rural neighborhood. On the state route where I live, on a half-mile stretch there are seven houses. I'm not overly friendly with my neighbors, but I know them by sight. We get along all right. Today I'm sitting on my…
Locals Only: : Think Locally, Rock Globally
Vinyltones Vinyltones I love standing corrected. Especially when someone steps into a staunch liberal's self-made reality — one carefully padded with AM radio, a good racially/sexually oriented mix of friends and lots of soy — to remind us that even the best intentioned can be missing the point. I've always assumed that if I…
Conventional Concert
Downtown's Convention Center officially reopens Thursday as the Duke Energy Center with a big "grand opening" shindig featuring a wealth of local music talent, including two intriguing "allstar" collaboratives. Music kicks off immediately after the opening ceremonies (we're guessing ribbons will be cut, proclamations made) at 5:30 p.m. on the "Fifth Street Concourse Stage" with…
News: Getting in Isn’t Easy
Doug Trapp Local immigration attorney Sherry Neal says many Americans don't understand how difficult legal immigration can be. U.S. immigration policy has changed a lot since Ellis Island opened in 1892. Maybe it's time to update Emma Lazarus' poem, "The Colossus," engraved on the Statue of Liberty's pedestal. Today it could read, "Give me…
Film: Return of the Iconoclast
Picturehouse Films Director Robert Altman contemplates his next move on the set of A Prairie Home Companion. A Prairie Home Companion feels like the end — and not just because it's set amid the fictional final taping of Garrison Keillor's long-running radio variety show. A sense of loss pervades the picture, as if a…
Jake Speed –
Notes: ?River Sweep,? the annual clean up of the Ohio River, inspired this week?s songatorial. On Saturday morning, my family, friends, and I waded ?long the banks of the Ohio, extracting naked dolls, pet carrying cases, and infinity + 1 bottles out of the shore. We tried to make our mark on the muddy banks,…
Weird Al
HOT Weird Math? Musicians speaking out against "illegal" downloading might want to take a look at their contracts regarding legal ones. That is, if we are to believe Weird Al Yankovic (and why wouldn't we?). As CD sales go down and digital sales go way up, it appears that Al is going to be on…
Cover Story: Independents’ Daze
Janis Hastings Desdemona Festival Desdemona, this weekend's giant Indie Rock festival on the banks of the Ohio River, has literally arrived. But a couple of weeks ago, it arrived figuratively, entering the Indie Rock pantheon as the subject of news item at pitchforkmedia.com, the genre's news-and-reviews Bible that fans either love or love to…
Music: The Rhythms of the ‘Roo
Keith Klenowski Thom Yorke of Radiohead Bonnaroo Photo Gallery – Click Here Now in its fifth year, Bonnaroo has rapidly become the nation's most beloved, well-organized and wildly diverse music and arts festival. For four days every June the rolling green pastures of Manchester, Tenn., are transformed into a sprawling pre-fab city, complete with plumbing,…
