Mar 1-8, 2017
Mightier Than the Sword: White Whale Tattoo transforms the lives of Guatemalan gang members with a little bit of ink and a lot of compassion
Morning News: Second mayoral debate tonight; Cranley snags FOP endorsement, Simpson touts poll; Portman pushes back against party’s ACA replacement
Good morning all. Do you have any small boats, kayaks or other reasonably-sized watercraft I can buy for my morning commute? It just keeps raining and my bike doesn’t float. In the meantime, here’s some news. Ahead of the city’s May 2 mayoral primary, Cincinnati’s three mayoral candidates will face off again tonight at the…
Morning News: FOP set to endorse in mayor’s race; King Records decision delayed; GOP gov. candidates praise Trump
Good morning all. I hope your weekend was grand. Bockfest was great. (Protip, however: Don’t drink a couple dopplebocks on an empty stomach right after you go on a seven-mile run unless you like being real dizzy.) I also heard there was a wine fest going on downtown. But enough about that. Let’s talk non-drinking-related…
Foot doctor Congressman steps up for foot doctors underpaid by Veterans Administration
When you’ve fought in a foreign war and your feet were mangled by a homemade land mine, the last thing you want to see at a Veterans Administration hospital is a foot doctor who’s grumpy about his pay. For decades, the VA has paid podiatrists less than other kinds of medical doctors, a phenomenon that…
Mystery Solved: New Graeter’s Flavor In Stores
I’m like that girl who has her wedding planned out for every season, but the daydream isn’t a wedding, it’s my ice cream stash. It starts with one of those industrial-sized freezers. I lift open the door, and beyond the golden halo are pints of Graeter’s lemon sorbet, Aglamesis butterscotch, Jeni’s brambleberry crisp, UDF blue…
Fish Fry Fridays
Many years ago, I was a young Catholic girl content with the mundane functions of her daily life — school, hanging out with friends and attending Sunday mass. Then, once a year, it would all come crashing down around me. One word: Lent. I could handle giving up candy for 40 days, but to force…
Morning News: Streetcar closure limited to downtown; Sen. Brown unveils push for minimum wage boost; state records: Pence used private email for public business
Happy Friday, Cincy. Are you checking out Bockfest tonight? You’ll probably see me around. But before the bockwurst and delicious beer, we’ve got some news business to get to. A temporary closure of Cincinnati’s streetcar will be limited to the downtown portion of its loop, leaving the Over-the-Rhine section open. Two five-foot concrete slabs on…
Local band The Grove presents massive Rock N’ Revival For a Cure benefit show this Saturday
There are times when a benefit concert’s main aim can get lost among the bright lights and loud sounds. All too often, outside of the requisite callouts onstage, there isn’t much difference in how a show is conducted or how the audience responds in kind. It is the benefit concerts that are able to elicit…
Stage Door: Spooked on Local Stages
It’s not Halloween — not even close — but there are numerous ghosts haunting Cincinnati stages this weekend. Let’s do a quick run-through as you consider your theater options for tonight through Sunday. The most overt haunting is happening in Summerland at the Cincinnati Playhouse. It’s a world premiere about a “spirit photographer” in 1869:…
Your Weekend To Do List (March 3-5)
FRIDAY 03 EVENT: BOCKFEST Bockfest is back for its 25th year as Cincinnati’s flagship three-day festival celebrating the coming of spring plus Over-the-Rhine’s brewing heritage and bock beer. For those who are unfamiliar with bock beer, it’s generally stronger than your typical lager with a robust malt character and a dark amber hue with little…
Morning News: Cranley snags another major union endorsement; Ohio issues record number of concealed carry permits; Boehner and Reid team up
Hello all. Here’s some news this morning. Mayor John Cranley has received another major labor endorsement. The AFL-CIO labor council, which represents 30,000 workers in Greater Cincinnati, voted to give Cranley the nod last night. The move isn’t surprising — Cranley’s a big favorite with local labor after he pushed an ordinance giving 6,000 city…
Cincinnati Magazine sold to company that publishes a magazine about Trump’s house
We live in strange times. It's hard to believe, but the following sentence is as true as anything can be determined to be these days. Emmis Communications sold Cincinnati’s leading monthly magazine today to Hour Media, a Detroit-based company that also publishes a yearly magazine dedicated to Mar-a-Lago, the expansive Florida estate of President Donald…
Locals on Trump’s Debasement of the Press
Donald Trump wins if news media respond to his “enemy of the American people” speech by curling into the fetal position, closing our eyes and hoping malign forces will not maul us further. I’m not sure what Trump hoped to accomplish by the calumny — mobs smashing newsroom windows, making us wear yellow badges shaped…
What a Week! Feb. 22-28
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 22 NASA announced Wednesday the discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the same star outside our solar system. The TRAPPIST-1 system shows potential to support life, consisting of temperate rocky planets that might even have oceans. So let’s see: possibly livable, might have some great beaches, only 40 light-years away — who’s in?…
Joseph Auto Group faces boycotts and mockery as demolition of the Dennison Hotel begins
It's difficult to imagine how demolishing a historic building could help an auto dealership make more money, but there is reason to believe the Joseph Auto Group's protracted effort to tear down the Dennison Hotel downtown will hurt the company, at least in the short term. The family that owns Joseph Auto Group is currently…
The Real Housewives of Monterey
Miniseries du jour Big Little Lies (9 p.m. Sundays, HBO) boasts all the elements Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise would kill for: a star-stacked cast, a collection of conflicting strong female personalities, tumultuous relationships, mom politics, bitchy dialogue dotted with backhanded compliments, sweeping images of swoon-worthy properties and unadulterated drama that climaxes with a mysterious murder. Sometimes truth is…
Interracial Love Tested in ‘A United Kingdom’
On a global level, the experiences of Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams as an interracial couple in England and Africa would seem to have little in common with those of the Virginia couple Richard and Mildred Loving, whose lawsuit prompted the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967 to guarantee the rights of people to marry interracially…
‘Young and Unafraid’ set amid turbulent times
Currently receiving its regional premiere at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, Sarah Treem’s 2014 play, When We Were Young and Unafraid, provided a flashback for me. It’s set in 1972, the year after I graduated from Oberlin College. The Pop recordings that director Drew Fracher has chosen to warm up the audience before the show and during…
Minimum Gauge: Lana Del Rey encourages witchcraft movement against Trump
HOT: Witchy Woman Lana Del Rey got fans excited that her new album was imminent when she posted a cryptic tweet. But Rey’s vague message — “At the stroke of midnight… Feb 24, March 26, April 24, May 23… Ingredients can b found online” — was actually for a bigger purpose. The dates coincide with…
Vocal Arts Ensemble honors the slain Matthew Shepard with a ‘fusion oratorio’ by its artistic director
The Vocal Arts Ensemble takes a bold step forward this weekend with two performances of the Grammy-nominated Considering Matthew Shepard, written by its music director, Craig Hella Johnson. While the ensemble’s mission is to “raise and nurture the public’s appreciation of the life-enriching qualities of the choral arts,” this work also has a political dimension…
Heaven for Pigs at Hilltop Family Farm
Until now, if a chef has been seriously concerned about offering his/her guests a farm-to-table dining experience, the process has been a fairly simple one — locating mostly local farmers and purveyors of quality meats, dairy and produce and cooking them up. But in the case of Maribelle’s eat + drink executive chef/owner Mike Florea,…
Locally focused and Italian-inspired Panino elevates simple panini to a higher level
At the end of last year, Nino Loreto expanded his Italian-style charcuterie and meat-sandwich food truck Panino, which he established in 2013, into a full restaurant on Vine Street. Having more space to cure his meats is ideal for an operation that literally uses the entire animal — from snout to tail — and stores…
Much Variety in Playhouse’s 2017-18 Season
Two weeks ago, the Cincinnati Playhouse announced plans to build a new theater in Eden Park, opening in time for the 2020-21 season. But that’s three years off, and Artistic Director Blake Robison has just shared plans for the immediate future — his productions for 2017-18. He calls it “a big season” that sustains the…
Sound Advice: Shovels & Rope with John Moreland (March 1)
The Shovels & Rope journey began a decade and a half ago, when Nashville resident Cary Ann Hearst, already a veteran solo performer in her early 20s, met Denver-born/Charleston, S.C. raised Michael Trent when he was gigging with his band, The Films. After four years of touring together, Hearst released Dust and Bones, her debut…
Sound Advice: Joseph with Kelsey Kopecky (March 4)
With all the Joseph variations we’ve got running around Cincinnati, you’d think we wouldn’t have to import any more. We’ve already claimed Joesph, the solo Indie Pop project from former Pomegranates member Joey Cook, and of course there’s Joseph Nevels, better known as JSPH, a contemporary Soul/Pop/R&B marvel. But where Josephs are concerned, the third…
Sound Advice: Sad13 with Stef Chura, The Funs and Leggy (March 7)
Sadie Dupuis is a big fan of Dan Savage’s long-running sex advice column “Savage Love.” Along those lines, the frontwoman for slanted Indie outfit Speedy Ortiz — for the uninitiated, think Pavement fronted by prime-era Liz Phair — calls her new solo project, dubbed Sad13, “advice column Pop.” Dupuis wrote the 10 songs that would…
Dynamic Jazz Duo Celebrates Debut Release
If you pay any attention to Cincinnati’s Jazz scene, you surely know the names Brad Myers and Michael Sharfe, two of the most active working musicians in the area. The guitarist and bassist (respectively) have incredibly impressive résumés that show that both are not in any way limited to one or two particular modes of…
Modern Soul crew St. Paul & the Broken Bones explore modern Southern identity on their sophomore album
Winston Churchill, the old “British bulldog” and statesman, inspired many a politician as well as the British public at large during WWII. However, you might not expect the former British Prime Minister’s posthumous influence to currently motivate a fledgling Soul band in small-town Alabama in America’s Deep South and help shape its new record. But…
Morning News: First mayoral debate gets testy; why Norwood is broke; State Sen. Schiavoni announces run for governor
Good morning all. March definitely let us know it was coming, didn’t it? I hope last night’s storms, high winds and floods passed you by and you’re safe and dry right now. Anyway, let’s talk non-weather-related news, shall we? Cincinnati’s three mayoral candidates locked horns last night in their first debate, which was convened by…
A neighborhood revitalization program in Mount Auburn raises questions about equity in city code enforcement
A city program funding cleanup efforts and rehabbing community spaces also has negative consequences for those in some low-income neighborhoods. Mount Auburn residents say they were deluged with code compliance orders during the Neighborhood Enhancement Program, which undertook a so-called “90-day sweep” of the neighborhood last fall.Those orders can mean serious money on repairs and…
Ohio needn’t look far for a superior way of filling judicial vacancies — one state south
A state appeals court seat opened up in January. The state’s seven-member Judicial Nominating Commission advertised the vacancy and collected nominations, applications and completed questionnaires. Following a process spelled out in the state Constitution, the panel sent the governor three names last week. It is now up to the governor to choose one of the…
