Lookwhos: Look Who’s Eating: Chris Prince
Graham Lienhart Chris Prince Primavista expects a lift from the new City Lights development. The Italian fine-dining favorite, located in the Queen's Tower apartments-turned-condos, is at the top of Price Hill and in the center of the recently announced Incline District development that will include offices and retail space. Chef Chris Prince feels that…
Northside Rock ‘N Roll Carnival and 4th of July Parade
Leaping Lizard Randel Plowman's "Bull's Eye" Covington Gallery Leaps for Junk/Art If you're the type of person who saves random objects just in case they might be useful some day, LEAPIN LIZARD's R3: Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose is definitely the art exhibition for you. From old silverware to bottle caps to discarded circuit boards, this…
News: Strangers in Our Midst
Joe Lamb Neil Comber Valdespino, a member of the board of Bridges for a Just Community, addresses the media forum on Hispanic culture. Some people call it pandering or special treatment. Others, with a sarcastic tone, call it being politically correct. But those who care about inclusion, diversity and embodying the principles of freedom…
Locals Only: : Atia Evans
Joe Lamb Atia Evans So fresh and so clean in her pressed white polo, Atia Evans can't wait to get the dirt off her shoulders. Her popped collar stands up to afternoon humidity as she thinks back to B.C., life before committing to Christ, a day-to-day "party like a Rock star" existence where she…
Music: Southern Comfort
Amy R Smith PJ Herrington, Diedrich Jones and Kris Brown of Austin's Mr. Brown. Imposing in stature yet disarmingly humble by nature, P.J. Herrington is a giant of a man with a heart of gold. A modest, modern mystic on a musical mission. Pulling his overloaded SUV into the parking lot of Flamingo Cantina…
News: Coloring Northern Kentucky
Joe Lamb Organizers of Vision 2015 have tried but largely failed to make their own organization more inclusive. Thousands of new jobs, more high school graduates in college, an inclusive community — the future is bright in the eyes of a Northern Kentucky planning group that hopes to reshape the region by organizing businesses,…
Onstage: Review: Cosi Fan Tutte
Cincinnati Opera Cosi Fan Tutte A great many theatrical miracles combine to make Cincinnati Opera’s Cosi Fan Tutte the exhilarating, near stunning success that it is. Any production so sure of itself that it makes a 91-minute first act seem short has to be a miracle. Cosi's success derives, in part, from six splendid…
Tomahawk — Anonymous (IPECAC)
TOMAHAWK — ANONYMOUS It's hard to imagine the Mike Patton that joined Faith No More in the '90s and looked like the day-glo-attired skater little brother of Anthony Keidis has turned into one of the most interesting artists in music today. After a little foray back into the Pop world with an R&B/Funk/AltRock album…
John Doe — A Year In The Wilderness (YEP ROC)
JOHN DOE — A YEAR IN THE WILDERNESS If he'd never played a single note after the initial dissolution of X, John Doe could have spent the rest of his life sitting on a fire escape getting fat on beer and Tootsie Rolls and his legend would have been secure. Of course, he chose…
Troublemaker’s Journal
I'm a father of three: Jake, Traven and Reed. Wonderful boys. I couldn't be prouder. Jake, my son the Blues musician and actor who's just back from making the latest Rambo movie in Thailand with Sylvester Stallone, called from Pasadena and we talked. Traven, my son the artist who's working with the restaurant workers' organization…
Film: Review: La Vie en Rose
Magnolia Pictures Marion Cotillard is Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose. Music biopics invariably come in for condescension in some critical quarters — celluloid "greatest hits" albums, they often are called. I disagree. There are few movie thrills as satisfying as watching an actor or actress successfully bring a singer's personality to electrifying,…
Estrangement in a Strange Land: Laugh Prone
Ernest Flink, 68 years old, Sarasota, Fla.: Rascal Mobility Scooter Rider …Been riding my Rascal a couple years now. Yeah, see, I got it after I saw this TV commercial that said I could get one through MediCare … for free. Excuse me, did I say, "For free?" I meant to say, "FOOOOOOR FREEEEEEEE!!!" Which…
Portofino’s
On a recent Sunday afternoon, as the Cincinnati Pride parade made its way along a sun-baked Hamilton Avenue in a riot of color and, um, ill-fitting black leather, I stopped in at Portofino's in Northside (1609 Chase Ave., 513-542-5858), momentarily trapped by gays, lesbians and police barricades. I sat in the bright and airy Victorian…
Is There a Local Band Heaven?
If there is, then they just got three more little angels from Cincinnati's music scene. · After over a decade of playing together in some form, rootsy Rock crew Wojo is no more. (Making it extra sad is the fact that last year they put out their finest record yet, Borderlands.) The band's Aaron Zlatkin…
News to Use
Free Peace Camp for Kids Peace Camp is a two-week free day camp where students ages 6-12 participate in activities focused on conflict management, diversity appreciation, cooperation and effective communication. The program is sponsored by the Center for Peace Education and the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center. Peace Camp meets from 9 a.m.-noon June 25-July…
Sound Advice: : Rachel Z, The Redwalls and Our After
The Redwalls The Redwalls with Robbers on High Street Wednesday · Southgate House It might have been the most delicious irony that The Redwalls were briefly a part of the Capitol Records stable, given the Deerfield, Ill., quartet's uncanny sonic resemblance to a certain Fab Foursome. The Redwalls began with a pair of BritPop-obsessed…
Making Workers’ Rights Effective
Sean Hughes In 2005, John Pepper (right) replaced Spencer Crew (left) as CEO of the Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Now Crew, president of the museum, is leaving altogether. Here's what happens when someone gets the idea of starting a union: An organizer urges employees to sign cards asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)…
Film: The Provocateur
Weinstein Company Michael Moore discusses the merits of universal health care with a British doctor in a scene from Sicko. Michael Moore's knack for framing political and social issues in a surprisingly entertaining documentary format is a journalistic phenomenon that picks up where '60s- and '70s-era activist filmmakers left off. Davis Guggenheim's An Inconvenient…
Martin Meersman
THE CARNEGIE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS CENTER aims, to quote its mission statement, "to utilize our historic building to create a leading arts organization. To this end we will provide a venue for emerging and established artists to create, perform and exhibit; provide educational opportunities for the discovery and enhancement of creativity; and celebrate the…
Do Steroid Users Make Baseball History or Distort and Dishonor It?
Time and again, we hear that baseball fans don't care much about which players took steroids, or when or why. Fans have lives of their own, they've got their own struggles and they go to baseball wishing to depart their struggles rather than to embrace more struggles. It's baseball's responsibility. The steroid issues are…
Cover Story: The Real Green Acres
Joe Lamb Sometimes feeding the animals means giving the younger ones a bottle. At age 7, Jake Swolsky is an experienced bottle feeder. A sleepover at a friend's house means taking a toothbrush, pajamas, a change of clothes and your horse — that is, if you live on a farm and the friend who…
Living Out Loud: : Sit or Spin II
I struggled from my Chevy to the Laundromat's automatic door, limp-walking, balancing the laundry basket's weight against my stomach. As the glass slid open, I paused before entering. To my left, a red-faced brunette paced across the pavement, making a scene. Her wrecked hair was tied up in a haphazard bun. Dressed in a peach…
Finding a Qualifed Massage Therapist
Massage has too many benefits to name in this short column. A few of the primary benefits are reduced heart rate, lower blood pressure, increased blood circulation and lymph flow as well as improved range of motion. Of course, it's hard to beat a good massage for pure relaxation. As an increasing number of people…
Music: Blissful Solitude
Amanda Cunningham After 13 years with a band, Scott Cunningham goes it alone as Wake the Bear. Years ago, when I'd meet up with Scott Cunningham — then lead singer and bassist for the local Pop/Rock trio Promenade — it was usually at a bar. Or maybe we'd hook up at his swank downtown…
Diner: Island Eating
Woodrow J. Hinton By Lora Arduser "Kings Island … Kings Island," said I to myself. "I don't seem to remember hearing of it before. Name of the asylum, likely." Unlike Twain's character, Hank Morgan, I had heard of this place — in fact, many childhood summer days were spent frolicking on the island. As…
Always a Progressive
I appreciate the coverage of my campaign in Porkopolis (issue of June 13). I noticed, however, a slightly questioning tone. I'd like to take this opportunity to set record straight about my progressive roots. The article mentioned that my campaign lingo "doesn't quite mesh with his new campaign strategy of de-emphasizing his radical history." I…
Joan Armatrading — Into The Blues(429/SAVOY)
JOAN ARMATRADING — INTO THE BLUES From her beginnings over three-and-a-half decades ago, singer/songwriter Joan Armatrading parlayed her West Indian heritage and her British upbringing into an amazing musical hybrid, combining Folk, Reggae, Pop, Rock and Soul into a powerful and mesmerizing sonic gumbo. She consequently became a stadium-sized star in Europe and a…
Association Of Community Theatres
Dean Rettig Taylor Reynolds and Darin Art starred in Footlighters' Parade, which was a big winner at the Orchid Awards on June 23. I look forward to the third weekend in June when Cincinnati's many community theaters come together for their annual excerpt competition and awards banquet. It's a chance to see 30-minute offerings…
