Event: Juneteenth Festival
On June 19, 1865, the face of humanity in the United States changed forever in Galveston, Tex. when, legend has it, Union General Gordon Granger announced the formal abolition of slavery. Can you think of something better to celebrate than the end of slavery? Didn’t think so. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Cincinnati’s…
Lit: Christopher Coake
Writer Christopher Coake will be reading from his first novel, “You Came Back,” at Joseph-Beth Booksellers. Coake teaches creative writing at the University of Nevada, but his ties to this part of the country run deep. He lived in Columbus for nearly a decade and was born and raised in Indiana. His novel is set…
Onstage: Pride Night at Cincinnati Opera
When a troupe of pagliacci (clowns) pulls into town to put on a show, the drama turns personal — and deadly. That’s Pagliacci, part I of Cincinnati Opera’s opening double bill, followed by more recognizable and genuinely ridiculous clowns, the gold-digging Donati family in Puccini’s comic masterpiece, Gianni Schicchi. Cincinnati Opera’s annual Pride Night celebration…
Music: Javon Jackson
Acclaimed Jazz saxophonist Javon Jackson got his start as part of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and, along with his successful career as solo artist and bandleader, he would go on to tour and/or record with the likes of Elvin Jones, Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard and many others. But it was a chance teaming…
Art: Built in the Digital World
This Friday, June 15, The Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Gallery opens Built in the Digital World, a group show premised around the virtual origins of the featured artists’ work. As a card-carrying member of the neo-luddite union and proud owner of a way-past-its-prime LG flip phone, technology, especially coupled with art, makes me…
Q&A with Alice Cooper
In the last year, Alice Cooper could be seen everywhere from special guesting on stage with Vince Gill to rocking out with Rob Zombie. This past weekend he even popped up singing Lady Gaga at Bonnaroo. Cooper can do anything in music, entertain every audience, and still be cutting edge enough to be a premier…
Art: Beyond the Still Life
What happens to an old favorite, the still life painting, in the hands of today’s artists? Cincinnati Art Galleries’ pleasurable exhibition, Beyond the Still Life, answers that question with works from 14 Cincinnati area artists. Color kicks in immediately: See Sheila Fleischer’s sun-struck fruits; Sheldon Tapley uses shadow to accent fragility; Rob Anderson presents a…
Dance: Contemporary Dance Theater’s Area Choreographers Festival
In case you didn’t get to see enough dance performances at the recent Cincy Fringe Festival, you’ll have another chance this weekend with Contemporary Dance Theater’s Area Choreographers Festival at the Aronoff Center. As its title suggests, the annual production showcases local and regional works from both established and emerging talent. This year’s show features…
Comedy: Jarrod Harris
In the back of his mind, Jarrod Harris always knew he’d be a stand-up comic. “I was never a big comedy fan growing up,” he says, “but I remember in middle school seeing two comics and liking them a lot. One was Janeane Garofalo and the other was Sinbad. I know they’re polar opposites, but…
Onstage: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)
Don’t go thinking that Cincinnati Shakespeare Company doesn’t have a sense of humor about what they do. In fact, they’ve now decided to make this amusing send-up an annual tradition. Complete Works (abridged) mentions every one of the Bard’s plays — most of them framed briefly and ridiculously — in about 90 minutes. Three actors…
Music Tonight: Beach Boys, Black Belles and More
If the early onset of mugginess hasn't already, Riverbend presents a great concert tonight to get you ready for the summer, as The Beach Boys bring their 50th anniversary tour — featuring Brian Wilson on stage with fellow Boys Mike Love and Al Jardine for the first time in decades — to Cincinnati. Showtime is…
Morning News and Stuff
Former Bengal Chad Ochocinco will return to Cincinnati Oct. 7 as a member of the Miami Dolphins, if reports by his OchoCinco News Network are true: Ocho says he has signed with the Miami Dolphins. Cincinnati Public Schools on Monday voted unanimously to put a levy renewal on the November ballot. The current levy is…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
Are you sick of silly, humorous material taking over the internet? So is Fred Armisen. That’s why he’s created Be Serious for 30 Seconds. It’s a project, not a contest, to generate user-created videos. The videos must contain no comedy, they must be 30 seconds or shorter, feature a five-second dramatic pause and no more…
Torche
While Metal shows are havens for certain physical behaviors — headbanging, throwing the horns, grasping for an invisible orange during a particularly juicy guitar solo — smiling while you're playing is not one of them. But that hasn't stopped Steve Brooks. Torche's ringleader doesn't just crack a hint of a happy face during concerts but…
Theophilus London with Santigold
Theophilus London’s selection as opening act on the current tour of adventurous Pop artist Santigold (see interview in Music) was probably the easiest pairing the booking agent ever put it together. Santigold might be under “Pop” at the record store, but if there was a bin labeled “Various” or “Other,” that’s where her records would…
Sonny Landreth with Monkeytown
There are guitar slingers, guitar masters, guitar heroes and guitar stranglers, and then there are the rare guitar icons, players who possess a distinctive style that makes them immediately recognizable after just a few notes. Sonny Landreth is surely among that hallowed group. Whether as a session guitarist (he’s played on albums by Gov’t Mule,…
Jon McLaughlin with Mikey Wax
Given the relative proximity of his Anderson, Ind., hometown, Pop singer/songwriter Jon McLaughlin could be considered a Tri-state talent. As a youngster, McLaughlin learned piano despite his aversion to lessons, eventually studying music at Anderson University. At 21, McLaughlin released his debut album, Up Until Now, followed a year later by his eponymous sophomore disc,…
This Date in Music History: June 11
On this date in 1949, American musical icon Hank Williams made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry at the age of 25. It was the beginning of a very difficult relationship. Even though things soured, Williams' Opry debut was a career-defining moment. The singer/songwriter wowed the crowd so much, he was called back for…
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…
Q&A with The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys have been blessing audience’s ears with happy and fun tunes (with occasional blasts of melancholy) for 50 years. As they embark on a 50th anniversary tour, they are preparing to release their 31st album, titled That’s Why God Made The Radio, which is also the title of the first single. Almost anyone…
Cincy Blues Challenge 2012 Winners
This past Sunday 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…
Cincy Fringe Concludes This Weekend
You've probably heard by now that the ninth annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival has been underway for the past week or so. If not, you clearly didn't come across CityBeat's Cincy Fringe hub, where we've been collecting previews, reviews and ongoing coverage of the fest since even before Day 1. Since you only have two more…
Review: Dawes at Ballroom at the Taft
Oh, Cincinnatians! Wednesday night, when you filed into the Ballroom at the Taft (Theatre), loudly and drunkenly declaring your love for Dawes, I knew I’d never been more proud of you in all my life. (Except you, Guy Who Tried to Vomit Back into His Beer Can like a sorority girl MacGyver. Know your limits,…
FREE Music Tonight: The Dynamites, Oh My Me and More
This whole week has been overflowing with big-time concerts, from Radiohead to Red Hot Chili Peppers to Drake. If you went to any (and especially if you went to ALL), your pocketbook is probably a little lighter this weekend. So, in honor of all of you heroes who paid $15 just to park or spent…
This Date in Music History: June 8
On this date in 1984, the comedy motion picture Ghostbusters opened. It would go on to be ranked on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest film comedies ever at No. 28 (though they did rank Tootsie No. 2, so … grain of salt). Besides doing boffo numbers at the box office ($238.6 million, which…
Watershed Conservancy District Stops Water Sales to Frackers
Ohio environmentalists and conservationists won a small victory in the fracking industry today when Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District decided to halt all water sales from Ohio's largest contained watershed to drillers in the oil and gas industry. Environmental groups have expressed concern that the watershed's water supply could be sold for use in fracking, a…
Your Weekend To Do List: 6/8-6/10
This weekend marks the end of the Fringe Festival. If you haven’t seen any shows yet, go here to check out all reviews, show times and ticket info and go see some before Saturday’s final performances. Tonight at Know Theater, local live storytelling collective True Theater presents a special Fringe edition. True Fringe features five…
Morning News and Stuff
County Commissioner Todd Portune's idea to borrow more money and extend a half-cent sales tax in order to keep up with stadium costs has been shot down by a Bengals lawyer who used 15 bullet points to demonstrate that Portune's plan “proposes to breach one or both leases.” Duke Energy is asking state regulators if…
This Date in Music History: June 7
On this date in 1988, Bob Dylan kicked off his current tour. That's right — when Dylan picks up his touring schedule on June 30 in the U.K., he will be entering the 24th YEAR of his "Never Ending Tour." The "Never Ending Tour" was a nickname that first popped up during an interview for…
Your Thursday To Do List
Mingle with the fine arts crowd tonight at the Cincinnati Art Museum’s 22nd annual Taste of Duveneck. This yearly celebration of gourmet food and wine features offerings from local restaurants, vineyards and breweries. The museum’s courtyard has transformed into a biergarten, where guests can dine, drink and dance to the tunes of Soul Pocket. You…
Music Tonight: The Avett Brothers in Kettering
Remember a few years ago when you couldn’t walk into a Starbucks without hearing the words, “Three words that became hard to say/I and love and you?” At the time, you probably rolled your eyes at yet another attempt to reel in hipsters from their local coffee shops. However, the man whimpering those words was…
Morning News and Stuff
The Enquirer today broke out its Freedom of the Press Card, pressing the city to release details of the bids to build the streetcar's five vehicles. Enquirer Editor and Vice President Carolyn Washburn says the newspaper is being a good watchdog by investigating all the redacted parts of documents released by the city, which reportedly…
Delicious
Family-friendly Fringe shows aren’t common, but Psophonia brings a playful, even childlike romp to the Festival with Delicious. As frequent Cincy Fringe participants, the Houston-based, all-female modern dance company more often has focused on women’s issues. But as with their previous Fringe shows, Co-Artistic Directors Sonia Noriega and Sophia L. Torres once again go all…
Oral Arguments in Planned Parenthood v. DeWine Begin June 7
Since Ohio House Bill 126 was passed in June 2004, abortion-inducing medication mifepristone has been regulated in such a way that physicians can only administer the exact amount approved by the FDA in 2000. Tomorrow, the case will continue to move forward when proponents for overturning the law present oral arguments in Planned Parenthood Southwest…
Your Wednesday To Do List
If you’ve used Google today (which is kind of like saying “If you've breathed oxygen today…”), you know June 6 marks the anniversary of the first drive-in movie theater opening. The Camden, N.J. drive-in first opened on this day in 1933, when guests paid 25 cents per person and per car to see Wife Beware.…
This Date in Music History: June 6
Today is the 40th anniversary of the release of one of Rock & Roll's greatest albums, David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. The concept album based around the story of an alien rocker who's come to spread hope five years before the end of the world (but…
MidPoint 2012: First Acts Announced
The MidPoint Music Festival returns to Over-the-Rhine (including inside the newly unveiled Washington Park, which hosts the main "Main Stage") Sept. 27-29. After weeks of speculation, we now we have the first lineup announcement for MPMF.12, which features, once again, top-line Indie artists — from new buzz groups and some current, critically-acclaimed favorites to a…
Morning News and Stuff
A local music teacher says Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy offered him a job and then rescinded the offer after asking him if he is gay. Jonathan Zeng says he went through the school's extensive interview process, was offered a position and then called back in for a discussion about religious questions in his application, during…
‘Where Do We Go Now?’ Seeks to Resolve an Eternal Conflict
In a remote Lebanese village (hard to believe that such out-of-the-way places actually exist), Christians and Muslims live together, side by side, working and entertaining themselves as a community that is as close as family. Boys being boys joke and cross lines that are familiar to both sides, the men drink and eye women —…
Doin’ Bad Things in Bon Temps
A few seconds of True Blood’s opening credits (set to Jace Everett’s “Bad Things”) are all it takes to set the mood and excite audiences of the intoxicating vampire drama, which returns for a fifth season Sunday (9 p.m., HBO). With flashes of alternating sexual and religious, gritty, Southern-fried, swampy images, this intro perfectly encapsulates…
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombShells
I always admired the BombShells, Cincinnati’s yarn-bombing ladies. I just didn’t think that, given my lack of crafting skills, I could become one. Now, living the dream of wannabes worldwide, I’ve been invited to participate in a bombing. Saturday, June 9 is International Yarn Bombing Day, and the BombShells are taking their show on the…
The Way We Were: Cincinnati’s Historic Art
When the Cincinnati History Museum delves into its attic, or “storage,” as museums are more likely to call their collection of out-of-sight possessions, it has at hand treasures from some of the best attics in the city, among other sources. Limited gallery space relegates an unfortunate number of these works to storage, a situation remedied…
June Dining, Brought To You By The Letter ‘W’
With CityBeat’s Dining Guide hot off the presses, you’d think there’d be nothing new to report on the local eating front, but you’d be wrong. The food scene just keeps booming, and you need a scorecard to know the players. Here’s some news, and an important June-time reminder. Covington is hot right now, with three…
Marching Through the 2012 Fringe
As CityBeat’s June 6 issue goes to press, the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival is about half over. All 29 shows have opened and a few have concluded their runs. I’m sorry if you missed several of the latter — for instance, the much-praised Grim & Fischer: A Deathly Comedy in Full-Face Mask had only three…
Window Into Her World
I find a lost fledgling in my backyard. He blunders about on big feet and his bleating mouth asks to be fed or put back in the nest. I do not speak bird, but I know who does. I call Sheida Soleimani, artist, violinist with the band Marmalade Brigade and Cincinnati’s unofficial avian intermediary. “Oh…
Amanda Palmer and Hollywood Undead
Crowdfunding for Fun and Profit Eccentric cult superstar and Dresden Doll Amanda Palmer took to Kickstarter to ask fans to help her with her next album (and accompanying “art book” and tour) and to show the industry how such projects are the “future of music.” She made her point. Starting off with a goal of…
’Yards Sail
T here is no one quite like tUnE-yArDs. Started as a one-woman project in 2006 by New England native Merrill Garbus, tUnE-YaRdS is set apart via its meld of Appalachian Folk (ukulele being the most obvious signifier) and numerous African elements, none more visceral than Garbus’ versatile vocal delivery, which alternates between low-key crooning, honest-to-goodness…
Pomegranates Release Heavenly New LP
Heaven, the fourth album by remarkable Cincinnati-based Indie Pop troupe Pomegranates, was released nationally on June 5, and this weekend the group presents a hometown album release party to celebrate. And there’s plenty of reason to celebrate — Heaven is a stunning work of art that manages to top not only the Poms’ past three…
Boom, Bust or Both?
Supporters say it will lead to energy independence and an economic boom. Critics say it’s bad for the environment and will cause economic pain for many. It’s called hydraulic fracturing, but most people know it as “fracking.” Fracking is a drilling technique in which thousands of gallons of water are shot into the earth in…
DOMA Ruled Unconstitutional
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on May 31 ruled that the 16-year Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional for banning federal benefits for married same-sex couples. The Court’s three judges ruled unanimously that DOMA is discriminatory because it denies equal rights to same-sex married couples. Despite the unanimous decision,…
Taft Test Scores Down After Years of Improvement
Tenth graders at Robert A. Taft Information Technology High School — which went from academic futility in 2004-05 to excellence in 2009-10 — this year posted their worst showing on the Ohio grade math and reading tests since those bleak, bygone years. Taft’s 10th grade passage rate of 87 percent in reading and 84 percent…
Cincinnati vs. The World 6.6.12
Historic Everybody’s Records and Gaslight Café in Pleasant Ridge are facing threats of closure because Walgreens wants to purchase the corner of Ridge and Montgomery to demolish the properties and build a new pharmacy, only blocks from an already-existing location. CINCINNATI -2 A gay pride parade in the Mormon-laden town of Salt Lake City drew…
On the Trail of Dreams
C arolyn Lewis Cocchiarale and her husband Guy Cocchiarale are easy to spot on the Loveland Trail. They’re wearing bright green jerseys that proudly trumpet their route from Cleveland to Cincinnati: “Ohio to Erie Trail.” We meet on a blazing hot Saturday, May 26, in full sun. They’re glad to get out of the heat…
Technology Should Make Sports Better, Not Worse
Does anyone actually enjoy sports anymore? With Twitter, Facebook and message boards, it seems we have more outlets than ever to discuss and learn about sports. Add MLB.tv, NFL Sunday Ticket, ESPN3.com and other technological advances in streaming video, we’re always informed and entertained. So we can bitch. And bitch. And bitch. And then bitch…
Worst Week Ever!: May 30-June 5
WEDNESDAY MAY 30 If the 1985 film Pee Wee’s Big Adventure taught us anything, it’s that rich people think they can have whatever they want when someone loves an object enough, he or she will do anything to keep it. That’s kind of what’s going on over at Music Hall these days, as Mayor Mark…
Social Media Anxiety Attacked
A couple of years ago, I went through depressive funk that led me to withdraw from most social settings. I hermited away not only physically, but also cyberly. I’ve always suffered from some level of social anxiety; now, I was experiencing a kind of social-network anxiety that caused me to ultimately break up with my…
Back to Black
Y our black-ass president is a fag hag. A fag hag is usually a woman who co-stars and co-signs in the lives of flamboyantly gay men. She is a benign accessory and sometimes even a beard to the gay man who thinks he is fooling the folks who should not matter to him into believing…
Loving Days to Come
June 12 happens to be my stepdaughter’s birthday, but this year it takes on even greater significance to our family and thousands of other couples in the United States because it marks the 45th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision making it legal in all 50 states for couples of different races to marry and…
