Windhand
Now and presumably forever, California has a lock on being America's most important site for Metal, what with it being the birth state of Metallica, Slayer, Guns N' Roses, Faith No More, Tool and heaps of other bands. But that doesn't mean places like Richmond, Va., can't quietly take aim at seizing that throne. At…
The Mountain Goats
One gets the sense that John Darnielle would completely lose it if he couldn’t write songs. Seriously, is there anyone on the current musical landscape who seems to get more out of unloading his fertile imagination than the prolific Mountains Goats ringleader? Whether it’s recording lo-fi missives via his boom box or crafting studio offerings…
Portugal. The Man
After a handful of consistently diverse indie albums that found them directly or tangentially referencing The Beatles, Radiohead and Brian Eno, Portugal. The Man got the call from the big leagues and delivered a world-class major-label debut with 2011's glam-charged In the Mountain in the Cloud, the group’s first for Atlantic. The Alaska-raised/Oregon-based band had…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
Remember The Greatest Event in Television History, the 15-minute special on Adult Swim in which Jon Hamm and Adam Scott remade the intro to ‘80s detective series Simon & Simon, shot-by-shot? If not, watch the clip here, and stick around after the credits for the original theme song to truly appreciate the attention to detail.…
Coliseum
The music video for Coliseum’s “Bad Will” — one of many addictively visceral tracks on the band’s just-released fourth album, Sister Faith — is shot in vérité-style black and white as the trio plays an impromptu gig in front of a Louisville, Ky., tattoo shop. In it, imposing frontman Ryan Patterson bellows on about a…
Music Tonight: Death Grips, Father John Misty and More
• Death Grips is a primal force of nature that seems built to subvert. Entering the world of this Sacramento-based experimental Hip Hop trio — frontman Stefan “MC Ride” Burnett, keyboardist/programming guru Andy “Flatlander” Morin and drummer Zach Hill — is akin to being trapped in a demented, all-immersive video game designed and conceived by Harmony Korine…
Governor Unclear on Abortion Restrictions
Speaking at Bowling Green State University in northwestern Ohio yesterday, Gov. John Kasich was unclear on whether he’d use his line-item veto powers to remove anti-abortion provisions from a budget bill. When asked about the issue by a student from the University of Toledo Medical Center, Kasich responded, “First of all, I’m pro-life.” He added,…
Guest Blog: Musicians’ Desk Reference, More Specifically
Editor's Note: Brian Penick of local music promotions company The Counter Rhythm Group is guest blogging for CityBeat monthly to provide a behind-the-scenes look at his journey to release his interactive industry guidebook, Musicians’ Desk Reference. It has been killing me to remain so broad and vague this entire time about what exactly me and…
Morning News and Stuff
Got questions for CityBeat about, well, anything? Submit them here , and we’ll try to get back to you in our first Answers Issue. City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee approved a development plan for Fourth and Race streets to build a downtown grocery store, a luxury apartment tower and a garage that will replace…
Committee Approves Plan for Downtown Grocery Store
In a 7-0 vote today, City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee approved development plans for Fourth and Race streets to build a downtown grocery store, 300 luxury apartments and a parking garage to replace Pogue’s Garage. Following the city’s $8.5 million purchase of the property, the project will cost $80 million. The city will provide…
Tweens Sign to Frenchkiss Records
Most who’ve heard or seen the widely buzzed-about Cincinnati Indie/Punk/Pop/Rock trio Tweens knew it was only a matter of time before a national label signed the band. It was no shock, then, when it was recently announced that the band — which just played the MidPoint Indie Summer series on Fountain Square and was hand-picked…
County to Investigate 39 Voter Fraud Cases
As county and state officials move to investigate and potentially prosecute voter fraud cases, local groups are pushing back, warning that the investigations could cause a chilling effect among voters. Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls became the latest to speak out in a letter to Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters and Ohio Secretary of State Jon…
Morning News and Stuff
Got questions for CityBeat about, well, anything? Submit them here , and we’ll try to get back to you in our first Answers Issue. Even without the parking plan, the city passed a budget with no public safety layoffs and is moving forward with plans for the Uptown interchange project, a downtown grocery store, a…
It’s a Wrap for the 2013 Cincy Fringe
Around 11:15 p.m. on Saturday night, the crowd at Know Theatre’s Underground Bar was about four deep. There were nearly 200 people jostling and hobnobbing at the Over-the-Rhine theater, waiting for final words about the 2013 Cincinnati Fringe Festival, the announcement of the “Pick of the Fringe” awards. No one, however, was in a hurry.…
Ensemble Theatre Announces Remainder of Season
If you enjoyed "great theater in a great theater" at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park during past seasons, you'll be pleased to learn that Ed Stern, former producing artistic director, and Michael Evan Haney, whose tenure as associate artistic director ends on June 30, have both been engaged to stage shows at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati…
Confessions of a Cat Lady (with a side of crazy) (Review)
I’ve got news for Tiffany Anne Price: she’s not really a cat lady. “Cat lady” connotes eccentric recluse and pungent odors. But Price — who has only four cats — is outgoing, charming and chatty. She reminds you instantly of the zany, very loud friend you had in high school that was frequently attracting way…
Swimming in the Shallows (Review – Critic’s Pick)
Critic's Pick Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati uses the annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival as a platform to showcase its intern company, young professionals who spend most of the preceding season behind the scenes, understudying professional actors and supporting backstage operations. The 2013 Fringe has provided a final showcase for a half-dozen talented performers to shine in their…
Your Weekend To Do List: 6/7-6/9
The 2013 Cincinnati Fringe Festival wraps up this weekend with final performances Friday and Saturday. If you still haven’t checked out any of the freaky, funny, unique performances in this 10th annual fest, go here to check out show reviews and find a full schedule and festival guide. Cincinnati Rollergirls host their last home game…
Cincinnati Zoo’s Cafe is the Greenest Restaurant in America
The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden added to its ever-expanding list of green accolades this week when its Base Camp Cafe was named the "greenest restaurant in America" by the Green Restaurant Association, a welcome but not-so-surprising accomplishment from the same locale that calls itself the "greenest zoo in America." According to the zoo's website,…
Stage Door: Finishing Up Fringe
Two more days of the 2013 Cincy Fringe remain. In its 10th year, this year's festival has provided consistently high-quality offerings. If you're serious about the full range of theater, you owe it to yourself to catch a couple of them. I can't go into everything here, but you can check out my column from…
Ohio Senate Approves Budget with Anti-Abortion Measures
In a party line 23-10 vote today, the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate approved a $61 billion budget plan for fiscal years 2014 and 2015 that takes multiple measures against legal abortions, aims to cut taxes for small businesses and partly restores education funding cut in the previous 2012-2013 budget. The budget plan gives a large amount…
‘Restaurant Impossible’ to Take Over Mason Eatery
Food Network's Restaurant: Impossible is returning to the Cincinnati area after shooting an episode in town last year. The king of biceps himself, host Robert Irvine, helped renovate Rohrer’s Tavern in North Bend in 2012 and must have fallen in love with the area because on June 12 and 13 he’s back with his crew…
Not Just the Stories, But How and Why We Tell Them
There is a story embedded in this review. Maybe, in fact, this isn’t a film review at all, just a story, several stories, like little assignations – drawing a reference there to a Joyce Carol Oates collection of short stories that triggered in me a desire, for the first time in my adult life right…
Cat Break: “Sad Cat Diary”
Here at CityBeat, we cover a lot of budget hearings, and they can very easily wear us down with their partisan squabbles and monotonous focus on details that everyone will forget about in a week or so. Right now, we're watching the Ohio Senate budget hearings, which have so far involved Democrats repeatedly bringing up…
Myra’s Dionysus: Healthy, Fresh and It’s All Greek to Us
Strange how many times in my life I have started toward something and then found myself at a very different destination. I ate Greek food in Chicago, gyros to be specific, and asked, ‘How come you can't get these in Cincinnati?’ Seemed like the next great thing to me.” This is what guided Myra Griffin…
Morning News and Stuff
Got questions for CityBeat about, well, anything? Submit them here , and we’ll try to get back to you in our first Answers Issue. Also, take our texting while driving survey here. With a $3.2 billion price tag and 15- to 20-year time scale, Cincinnati’s plan to retrofit and replace its sewers is one of…
Ohio Senate Budget Fails to Restore Education Funding
The Ohio Senate's budget plan for fiscal years 2014 and 2015 would restore about $717 million in education funding, but the gains wouldn't be enough to outweigh $1.8 billion in education cuts from the 2012-2013 budget, which was approved by the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature and signed into law by Gov. John Kasich in 2011. The…
This Is One Shitty Party (Review)
This is One Shitty Party isn't. But it isn't great either. The Fringe offering from New York City’s Endless Chili Productions bills itself as an immersive, interactive show about a 30th birthday party where the audience plays the role of guests and friends. And you’re not expected to just walk in as you. That would…
Hilton Cincinnati Wins Hotel Chain’s Food and Beverage Award
Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza has been named Hilton Hotels and Resorts’ No. 1 Food and Beverage Hotel in the USA for the fourth consecutive year. The award, conferred upon one outstanding 500-plus guestroom Hilton establishment, is determined by Hilton’s Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking (SALT) scores. Guests fill out satisfaction surveys which a third party company…
Lou Lives, “Love” Bytes and Daft Pink/Puck/Punk
HOT Lou Lives! In an interview with experimental music great Laurie Anderson in U.K. paper The Times, the performer dropped a bombshell about her husband, former Velvet Undergrounder Lou Reed, saying the legendary singer/songwriter was dying before recently receiving a liver transplant at the Cleveland Clinic. The notoriously cranky Reed has clearly softened, announcing a…
Pre-Summer Festivals Heat Up
Though still a few weeks from summer, this week offers a handful of multi-act musical events that offer a great chance to get the music festival season started off right. • The MOXY Music Fest debuts this Saturday at Thompson House (24 E. Third St., Newport, thompsonhousenewport.com). MOXY is the brainchild of members of local…
Morning News and Stuff
Got questions for CityBeat about, well, anything? Submit them here , and we’ll try to get back to you in our first Answers Issue. Also, take our texting while driving survey here. The Ohio Senate proposed a budget amendment yesterday that would ban abortion providers from transferring patients to public hospitals. The rule continues a…
Going up in Style
“ W anted: musician to play banjo, mandolin, bouzouki, guitar and keyboards in an established band that tours worldwide and has released six previous studio albums. No prior experience playing those instruments required.” Dropkick Murphys didn’t actually place an ad like that when multi-instrumentalist Marc Orrell left the group in 2008. But the musician who…
JobsOhio: Something to Hide, Something to Fear?
In the past week, Republicans have rushed to protect JobsOhio from a full public audit, following months of controversy surrounding Republican State Auditor Dave Yost’s efforts to bring some accountability to the publicly funded private nonprofit entity. For Democrats, the cover-up has proven a moment of vindication — a signal that Republicans are hiding something…
Jury Rules Cincinnati Archdiocese Guilty of Discrimination
A jury on June 4 ruled in favor of the former schoolteacher who in 2010 was fired by her employers after informing them she was pregnant. Christa Dias was awarded $171,000 in punitive and compensatory damages. In 2010, Dias, a single, non-ministerial teacher at Holy Family and St. Lawrence Schools, both owned and operated by…
Ohio Senate Budget Keeps Conservative Issues at Forefront
Ohio Senate Republicans unveiled a budget plan on May 28 that would keep social issues at the forefront and refocus tax reforms on small businesses instead of all Ohioans. The conservative push on social issues echoes priorities established in the Ohio House budget bill, which passed on April 18. But the plan comes with a…
FitzGerald Calls on Kasich to Allow JobsOhio Audit
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald on May 31 called on Republican Gov. John Kasich to veto a bill that would prevent State Auditor Dave Yost from fully auditing JobsOhio, following months of controversy surrounding the private nonprofit entity. “I further encourage the governor to return to negotiations with Auditor Yost, with the explicit goal of…
Cincinnati vs. The World 06.05.2013
In an effort to differentiate himself from his Democratic opponents, Libertarian mayoral candidate Jim Berns plans to hand out free marijuana plants at a campaign event. CINCINNATI -1 Voted the “Cutest Couple” at a New York high school: two boys. WORLD +1 A new American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) study found serious racial bias in…
Stalemate at MSD
A t $3.2 billion and an estimated 15- to 20-year time frame for completion, Cincinnati’s project to retrofit and replace its sewers is one of the most expansive in the city’s history. But the sewer project, which is part of a mandate from the federal government, is now facing major hurdles as the city and…
Summer TV Preview
When fun in the sun loses its draw, it’s nice to retreat in the AC with some quality TV. Here are some returning favorites and new picks to watch out for this season. HBO Documentary Film Series (9 p.m. Mondays June 10-Aug. 12) – Every summer, HBO’s weekly lineup of docs covers an array of…
What Maisie Knew
Based on the Henry James novel about a young girl forced to deal with the divorce and remarriages of her parents, the film, written by Nancy Doyne (Tales from the Darkside and Tales from the Crypt) and Carroll Cartwright (Dungeons & Dragons) and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel (the team behind The Deep…
Stories We Tell
As a filmmaker, Sarah Polley has proven to be a prescient storyteller. Known for her performances in films like Go and No Such Thing and more recently for directing (Away from Her and Take This Waltz), with Stories We Tell, Polley turns her attention to her own family, digging into the myths and memories of…
The Purge
In the not-so distant future, domestic society has apparently achieved peaceful co-existence by setting up one 12-hour period every year when all crime is legalized. Writer-director James DeMonaco (the screenwriter of The Negotiator and the remake of Assault on Precinct 13) reteams with Ethan Hawke (Precinct 13) who toplines The Purge as the father of…
Love Is All You Need
Danish director Susanne Bier seems to be incrementally easing off the dramatic gas with each new release. She began attracting attention in the United States with a strong string of recent films (After the Wedding, Things We Lost in the Fire and In a Better World) that mine deep emotional wounds in her troubled characters.…
Jim Swill Brings Revolutionary Angst to the CAC
What would a contemporary American Revolution look like? We have television commercials today that play with the notion that Paul Revere would be able to look out his window, assess the British-invasion situation and then make a quick call on his cellphone to alert his compatriots before returning to a friendly game of charades. Social…
The Internship
With two Night at the Museum movies and a Date Night under his belt, Shawn Levy corrals the Wedding Crashers — Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson — for a generational workplace comedy about a couple of salesmen knocked flat by the digital revolution who try to get back in the game thanks to an internship…
Cultivating Connections
P ick up a pre-ground and quickly staling canister of Folgers or Nescafé from your average grocery store, throw it into the coffee pot and you get a burnt-tasting cup of joe that needs a hefty cut of cream and sugar. It’s the same low-grade caffeine delivery system being consumed with repetitive drudgery in workplaces…
This Is Your Director on Drugs
Something didn’t feel right. After taking in a recent screening of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, I walked out of the theater feeling … off. I was simultaneously anxious, depressed, energized and a little jittery. Unsure if I was coming down with something and impatient for answers, I turned to WebMD for a broad but…
Gibsonburg
Screenwriter Bob Mahaffey pairs up with director Jonathon Kimble to tell the dramatic and magical tale of an underdog high school baseball team in 2005 that struggled during the regular season (winning six out of 23 games), but goes on an eight-game run to become the first high school team in the country to win…
Daguerreotypes Come to Life in Taft Show
Daguerreotypes: someone sitting stiffly, right? Or perhaps someone standing stiffly? That’s the way we think of those small, rather elegant, 19th-century first ventures into photography. Ninety-nine percent of daguerreotypes would fit that description, says Tamera Muente, the Taft Museum of Art’s installing curator for its current show, Photographic Wonders: American Daguerreotypes from The Nelson-Atkins Museum…
Worst Week Ever!: May 29-June 4
WEDNESDAY MAY 29 Many women in Cincinnati have bad times at sports bars. The people inside of them often yell at the TV or prattle on about how the managers of local teams should be fired because they are stupid. In response, Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati has decided to open an upscale restaurant and sports bar…
Women’s Work Never Ends
Last week’s Pew research report alerted us to the emergence of women as top-income earners in families today. The proof was wonderful, but when I read the news blasts and listened to all the trend pieces and discussions, a part of me wondered what all the fuss was about. Anecdotally, was this truly surprising? Sometimes…
Real Pants Are the Worst
According to an April poll by Harris Interactive, only 33 percent of Americans are very happy. Which means that 66 percent of us are not very happy. Which also means that there’s a possible explanation as to why many of us dress like depressed yoga instructors. This morning I woke up and I had a…
Summer Meals, Markets and More
Does this ever happen to you: it gets so hot that you just don’t feel like eating anything? Ha, me neither. Let’s go celebrate summer with fresh, tasty food! The Peterloon Estate is the setting for From Plow to Chow, an all locally-sourced, five-course summer solstice dinner on June 22 from 6-10 p.m. Jose Navales…
Aunt & Circumstance
There he is. After 18 years, some of which whizzed by in a smear worthy of an impressionist’s oil painting, there he is. Fiddling with his tassel. Looking all around for his immediate family among a crush of humanity in a cavernous college auditorium, he is there, his metal-framed glasses and his neat haircut beneath…
