Free Pomegranates Download
If you haven't heard One of Us, the latest album from Cincinnati Indie quartet Pomegranates, then you missed one of the best albums to come out all of last year. If you'd like to remedy the situation, you can get a small sample now from Afternoon Records, which just announced it is offering a free…
Arlo Guthrie
When the subject turns to musical children attempting to escape the shadows of their musical parents, examples don’t come much bigger than Arlo Guthrie. By the time Arlo embarked on what would turn out to be a Hall of Fame career of his own, his father, iconic Folk hero Woody Guthrie, was the kind of…
Music: Lords of Acid with Prada Khan
They say Heaven Is an Orgasm. They say Expand Your Head. They say they have the Greatest T*ts. And so many more orgasmic delights: vaginas, cocks, LSD hits, hot licks, strippers, Punk, Disco … everything danceable, headbangable and arousing. Hailing from the shadows of Belgium, the Lords of Acid is a sexually charged collective led…
Lords of Acid and Praga Khan
They say Heaven Is an Orgasm. They say Expand Your Head. They say they have the Greatest T*ts. And so many more orgasmic delights: vaginas, cocks, LSD hits, hot licks, strippers, Punk, Disco … everything danceable, headbangable and arousing. Hailing from the shadows of Belgium, the Lords of Acid is a sexually charged collective led…
Adventure
On its self-titled 2008 debut album, Adventure blipped and bopped through a dance-fueled set of Nintendo chip-tune Pop that simultaneously referenced the earliest incarnations of video-game soundtracks, Synth Pop and gizmo worship. Between the clockwork beats, warbly synth runs and Blade Runner samples, the first Adventure set was an anachronism, an album that sounded like…
Art: Amanda Checco at Park and Vine
Park and Vine is currently decked out with Amanda Checco’s digital artwork in an exhibition called !YEYEAH! that weaves its way throughout the eco-friendly market. These works join the 140-square-foot mural that Checco is creating in the store, a work in progress over the past several months. The Miami University graduate’s fantasy world is a…
Events: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
All aboard the amazing circus train! Year after year the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus has dazzled children and adults alike, and this year's no exception. “The Greatest Show on Earth” has everything from high-wire artists performing over 40 feet in the air to death-defying motorcyclists rip-roaring around at speeds up to 65…
Art: The Amazing American Circus Poster at the Cincinnati Art Museum
When does something become art? One answer is when a museum shows it. Thus, the current show at the Cincinnati Art Museum, The Amazing American Circus Poster: The Strobridge Lithographing Company, qualifies as art. And I doubt few of the visitors to this exhibit will quarrel with this claim. There’s appeal on a number of…
Events: International Wine Festival Grand Tasting
Look who’s turning 21! Join in the celebration with fine wines, great food and good times. Diversify your tastes with over 600 wines from over 100 wineries while enjoying delicious food, music and a silent auction. Whether you’re a seasoned expert or an intrigued beginner, this event at The Duke Energy Center is a good…
Events: Dinner, Art and Wine for Canines
Give a dog the chance to have his day this Saturday from 6-10 p.m. at Receptions Loveland (10681 Loveland-Madeira Road) for Circle Tail Inc.’s Dinner, Art and Wine for Canines event. Start the evening off by clanking glasses during the Wines of the World Wine Tasting. Dabble in numerous wine selections while you browse the…
Art: Sara Pearce at NVISION
Following her retirement from the Cincinnati Enquirer, where she covered the art and literature scenes, Sara Pearce has been working on her own collage art at her space in Oakley's Brazee Street Studios, as well as documenting her artistic process and observations at www.collage365.blogspot.com and her search and acquisition of vintage paper at www.paperwithapast.blogspot.com. Now…
Music: Scott Belck
Trumpeter Scott Belck — who holds a doctorate in music studies, so that’s Dr. Belck to you and me — has a résumé that is almost ridiculously annotated with some of the greatest names in Jazz and Pop music, including the Woody Herman Orchestra, Manhattan Transfer, Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, Doc Severinsen and our own…
Music: Arlo Guthrie
When the subject turns to musical children attempting to escape the shadows of their musical parents, examples don’t come much bigger than Arlo Guthrie. By the time Arlo embarked on what would turn out to be a Hall of Fame career of his own, his father, iconic Folk hero Woody Guthrie, was the kind of…
Music: Adventure
On its self-titled 2008 debut album, Adventure blipped and bopped through a dance-fueled set of Nintendo chip-tune Pop that simultaneously referenced the earliest incarnations of video-game soundtracks, Synth Pop and gizmo worship. Between the clockwork beats, warbly synth runs and Blade Runner samples, the first Adventure set was an anachronism, an album that sounded like…
Literary: Change-Rae Lee
Acclaimed writer Chang-Rae Lee's latest deftly crafted novel, The Surrendered, tells the story of three people whose fraught connection was forged, in one way or another, by the Korean War. The book's dense, non-linear narrative moves from 1950s Korea to 1930s China to New York City and Italy in the 1980s, a juggling of settings…
Onstage: Aberrant Reflections of You & I
Well, that title might be ungrammatical, but there’s little else to fuss about with this show created by the Artemis Exchange for the 2010 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. It’s good enough that the Chicago Fringe has selected it for a run later this year in September. Before it heads off to entertain others, you have a…
Take Me Home Tonight (Review)
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Written by the people behind That ’70s Show, this late-’80s-set tale takes place over one night in the lives of several recent college grads/former high school classmates (Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Dan Fogler and Teresa Palmer, an emerging Australian actress who has a striking resemblance to Kristen Stewart) who are…
Events: Celtic Culture Fest
Grab your passport and head to the Cincinnati Museum Center this weekend. Just in time for Saint Patrick’s Day, the museum is featuring a glimpse into Celtic culture with a festival dedicated to the Celts. Part of the museum’s “Passport to the World” series, this event features a Celtic marketplace with authentic merchandise and goods…
Events: Naomi Tutu
As a young girl growing up in Krugersdrop, South Africa, Nontombi Naomi Tutu remembers wondering why, when her family took road trips to visit her grandparents, they would have to register with the local police before they could enter the community even though both of her own parents had grown up there. Such were the…
Music: The Dukes
Photo by Matthew Rust A mix between Led Zeppelin, Dead Confederate and The White Stripes, The Dukes’ work is supremely energetic, passionate Rock with a garagey sound, mixed with the catchy Blues groove of The Black Keys. Like Black Sabbath, there’s a touch of bad, sweaty, loud, sexy, thick, intense, drunken Classic Rock. And the…
Comedy: Tom Segura
How much Cincinnati spirit is left in a local native who moved away when they were 9? For many years, comedian Tom Segura followed the hapless Bengals obsessively. “But they were so bad for so long I lost interest in them and almost lost interest in the whole National Football League,” he says. Segura is…
Morning News Stuff
Governor John Kasich's “State of the State” address may be interrupted by a lot of pissed off people today. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has prepared a “State of the Worker” event to rival Kasich's speech. The AFSCME faces a tough opposition from Tea Partiers who plan on showing their support…
The Strokes Strike Back
Has it really been 10 years since The Strokes burst onto the scene behind a blizzard of (mostly justified) hype? A lot has changed since the NYC fivesome's first album, Is This It, debuted a month after 9/11 and only weeks before Apple unveiled the iPod, but my memory of their sold-out Southgate House tour…
Best of Cincinnati Celebration
Join us on Opening Day Eve to celebrate the 15th annual Best of Cincinnati issue and get a glimpse of the best people, food, drinks and prizes you’ll find anywhere in Greater Cincinnati … plus a peek at one of the main locations where George Clooney, Paul Giamatti and Ryan Gosling recently filmed their movie…
Beastly (Review)
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Beauty and the Beast gets the Twilight treatment in this update that transforms a vain guy (Alex Pettyfer) into a superficially unattractive freak who needs to earn the love of just one person (Vanessa Hudgens) to return back to his normal self. This retread from writer-director Daniel Barnz seeks to…
Morning News Stuff
Governor John Kasich will deliver his “State of the State” address in Columbus on Tuesday. We don't think he'll mention how he's going to take $8 billion out of the state budget, the “idiot” who gave him a ticket on Route 315 or Martin Luther King Jr. Day or St. Patrick's Day.—- “I did it…
Powerhouse Concert Posters (and More) On Sale
A slick new Web site has been launched for Powerhouse Factories, that gem of a design firm in Newport, Ky., that has done commercial work for Duke Energy and P&G, but is best known for its fantastic poster art for concerts both in the Tri-State and around the country. In honor of the new site,…
Free Eat Sugar Remixes
Eat Sugar and Mush Records are giving away three tracks though the Mush Web site, free for a limited time. The download is a maxi-single featuring the original version and two remixes of “Clap You Hands,” a track from Eat Sugar’s Levántense! album. The digital-only full-length (the first from the band) was recently re-released by…
More Sondheim at Cincinnati Playhouse
For the ninth time during Ed Stern’s tenure at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, a show by Stephen Sondheim will be presented. Stern, the Playhouse’ Producing Artistic Director, has a soft spot for the great American composer and lyricist who turned 80 a year ago. He will bring back Tony Award-winning director John Doyle (pictured)…
UC vs. Georgetown Senior Night Live Blog!
Yo! Yo! Yo! It's CityBeat sports reporting live inside Fifth Third Arena (brought to you by convenient overdraft protection). It's Senior Day Night for the Bearcats, who will honor the several years of distinguished service of six seniors: Rashad Bishop, Larry Davis, Darnell Wilks, Ibrahima Thomas, Anthony McClain and Eddie Tyree. Let us take a…
GOP Endorses Council Slate
The Hamilton County Republican Party endorsed five people Thursday night in this November's elections for Cincinnati City Council. As expected, the GOP slate includes all three of the party's incumbents: Leslie Ghiz, Charlie Winburn and recent appointee Amy Murray. Also getting the nod were Wayne Lippert and Catherine Smith Mills.—- Lippert is a financial planner…
Friday Movie Roundup: Cedar Rapids Edition
It's been a pretty shitty year to date at the movie house. Check this list of critical bombs that have graced the multiplex in 2011, all of which generated a D or worse from CityBeat's review team: Season of the Witch, The Rite, Drive Angry, Big Momma's: Like Father, Like Son, Sanctum, From Prada to…
Flashback: MTV, Whigs and the Next Seattle
I first started writing about the fine artists making music in Cincinnati in the early ’90s, just before The Afghan Whigs released their breakthrough Gentlemen album on Elektra Records. The timing of my unexpected entry into "music journalism" coincided with the unexpected rise of the Cincinnati music scene's national profile. Today, my pal David Pescovitz…
Review: Over the Rhine’s The Long Surrender
In a lot of ways, Cincinnati's Over the Rhine belonged to the world almost as soon as they birthed its spectacular debut album, 1991’s Patience. There wasn't really an evolutionary period involving chops-honing and building an audience with local bar gigs every weekend before becoming a songwriting and performing powerhouse that could stand toe-to-toe with…
Stage Door: Get In Line
There's a lot of good theater in town this weekend, but if you don't have a ticket you might have a tough time getting in. The following three shows are truly worth the effort, however. Here's the scoop—-: Rent at UC's College-Conservatory of Music is virtually full through Sunday, when it closes. If you show…
Mark Mallory ‘Undercover Boss’ L!ve Chat!
Tune into CBS at 9 p.m. Sunday to watch Mayor Mark Mallory on Undercover Boss! —- <a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=602b6c1ac3" >Mark Mallory 'Undercover Boss' LIVE CHAT!</a>
Mark Mallory on ‘Undercover Boss’
For the first time on CBS's reality show Undercover Boss, an elected official will become publicly embarrassed after realizing no one recognizes him go incognito to see first-hand what kind of work his employees do on a day-to-day basis. Cincinnati's Mayor Mark Mallory will be donning some D.L. Hughley dreadlocks, face pelts and a fat…
Memories of Reporting in 1960s Africa
CAPE TOWN — I’m back in Southern Africa for the first time since colonial 1965, when I was here as a journalist. In the 1960s, black rule was rare, an aspiration of increasingly restive black majorities. Most publications were aimed at white minorities. Broadcast was government owned or controlled. The papers I joined set out…
BYU Players Can’t Have Sex?
Brigham Young University's basketball team is having a great year. Going into last night, the Cougars were ranked No. 3 in the country, had a 27-2 record and were likely to grab a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament. Then 6-9 sophomore forward Brandon Davies — the team's third leading scorer, top rebounder…
Franco and Hathaway Shine in Day Jobs
In an obvious stroke of marketing synchronicity, it’s no coincidence that James Franco’s and Anne Hathaway’s recent films are being released on DVD/Blu-ray this week, just a few days after the duo hosted Hollywood’s biggest yearly extravaganza of pomp and self-congratulation. —- While the pair struggled to successfully host the Oscars (though I’m not sure…
Playhouse Show Up for National Recognition
The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) today announced six finalists for its Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award recognizing playwrights for the best scripts that premiered professionally outside of New York City during 2010. Among the finalists is The History of Invulnerability by David Bar Katz, a script that premiered in…
Live Sheen Highlights!
Our Live Chat! of Charlie Sheen's "20/20" interview was our most exciting and successful one yet. If you only read CityBeat and haven't turned on a television or visited a Web site this week, you're probably wondering why everyone is shitting all over Charlie Sheen. We still haven't figured that out yet, but check out…
Over-the-Rhine: When Beer Was King
My first thought was, given Over-the-Rhine’s lengthy (if roller-coaster-styled) history as a drinking and entertainment district, “When wasn’t beer king in OTR?” But, really, the modern volume of lager pales in consideration of the way things used to be. A century ago, the embattled city core was home to several hundred taverns and more than…
Eric Tepe Band (Profile)
M any artists feel as though the word “radio” carries with it the perception of commercial compromise and the taint of diminished artistic content in favor of increased sales. Cincinnati-based vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Eric Tepe understands that mindset but also feels there are ways to be commercially viable while maintaining artistic integrity. “I’m not trying to be…
You Don’t Know Keith
K eith Haring’s iconography of silhouetted figures, pointy-eared dogs, swelling hearts and televisions — produced in an instantly recognizable style of heavy black outlines filling jumbled compositions — is synonymous with the Pop Art and street culture of the 1980s. That was the milieu in which he worked until his early death in 1990 at…
Events: Camp Ernst Open House
Winter’s on the wane and the summertime blues are fast approaching. YMCA Camp Ernst is hosting an open house to give parents and kids (ages 6-15) a taste of the food and activities available at the venerable Northern Kentucky campground. This summer, 10 one-week sessions are offered, with opportunities for canoeing, archery, rope courses and…
The Best Babysitting Gig
My name is too hard to pronounce for a 2-year-old, so when my niece calls me she says, “Noo Noo.” This was an improvement from my previous family nickname, which was “Nana.” I suppose even at a young age I displayed the temperament of an Italian grandmother. Naturally the coolness of having such a nickname…
Rent (Review)
E very decade or so a new musical comes along to breathe new life into an art form that some fear is outdated, bringing young audiences back to the theater. In the 1950s it was West Side Story. In the ’60s it was Hair. And in the ’70s it was A Chorus Line. The ’90s…
Cincinnati Theater Needs You
If you read Curtain Call regularly, you’re probably a devoted Cincinnati theatergoer and you know what you like, whether or not you agree with me or any other critic. So I hope you’ll help with a new effort to identify favorite performers and productions. First a bit of background. In August of last year, CityBeat’s…
Gadhafi, Randy Newman and Rolling Stone
[HOT] Gadhafi Gaffs Several Pop stars have found themselves in the spotlight recently for performing in service of a restrictive dictatorship … and we’re not even talking about Clear Channel! The New York Times recently highlighted a juicy tidbit from the infamous WikiLeaks cables about how celebrity performers like Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Usher and 50…
Art: Keith Haring at CAC
Keith Haring’s iconography of silhouetted figures, pointy-eared dogs, swelling hearts and televisions — produced in an instantly recognizable style of heavy black outlines filling jumbled compositions — is synonymous with the Pop Art and street culture of the 1980s. That was the milieu in which he worked until his early death in 1990 at age…
Art: Essex Studio Arts Walk
The open-house Art Walks
Events: Cinciditarod
I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than watching costume-clad runners pull grocery-filled shopping carts along a five-mile trek through the streets of downtown. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, you're in luck — noon Saturday is your chance to see all this and more as New Horizons…
The Four Stages of Cruelty
Lurid, profane and immensely dark, Keith Hollihan’s descent into the annals of Ditmarsh Penitentiary makes for a serviceable, pulpy page-turner. It’s a mystery thriller that follows the misadventures of Corrections Officer Kali Williams as she uncovers plots of torture and murder that have been carried out by corrupt guards. The story winds through many sordid…
Feeders’ Digest
I f George Clooney asked for the key to the city right now, Cincinnati would have it on his key ring before he finished the question. And probably make him mayor, too. The excitement over Clooney coming back to the area where he grew up to film The Ides of March has made giddy schoolgirls…
Kentucky Struts Gallop Through 2011
Saturday, rootsy Folk rockers The Kentucky Struts headline Over-the-Rhine’s beer-fueled Bockfest events at the fest’s headquarters, Bockfest Hall. The band plays 9 p.m.-midnight. (To check out all of Bockfest’s musical options, visit bockfest.com.) The Bockfest performance comes as the Struts are finishing up work on their next album. Of course, that could be said of…
Outsourcing Law and Order
S ome community groups are outraged about a hastily crafted proposal by Cincinnati officials that could result in the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office taking control of all policing within city limits, adding it shows a lack of planning and judgment. Critics say the wide-sweeping proposal, which is being rushed through in three months, would disrupt…
Cedar Rapids (Review)
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Small-town insurance representative Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) heads to the big city of Cedar Rapids for a weekend conference that will change his life. Leaving the security of his former high school science teacher/girlfriend (Sigourney Weaver), Lippe meets up with regional insurance badass Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly), a straight-laced…
Events: Findlay Market Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras and booze go together like beads and … you know. But Mardi Gras and food don’t always have the same visceral connection in one’s mind. Findlay Market is trying to change all that with their seventh annual Findlay Market Mardi Gras challenges this Sunday. Market merchants will be competing in several categories: best…
Bill Seitz and Stan Chesley
[WINNER] BILL SEITZ: The Republican state senator from Green Township often puts common sense before blind loyalty to ideology. For example, he wants to reform Ohio’s prison sentencing laws so low-level, nonviolent offenders are diverted to other punishments, to save on skyrocketing jail costs. But even we were surprised when Seitz told The Columbus Dispatch…
Meatless in March
Former President Clinton is a vegan. Does that surprise you? I mean, this is a guy who used to stop during jogs to get a Big Mac. Now he’s given up meat and dairy products and has reportedly lost 24 pounds. So clearly this vegan thing is gaining some momentum. It’s super healthy, animal friendly…
Rango (Review)
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The folks at Pixar should be worried. In conjunction with Industrial Light and Magic, director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) has created a gorgeously animated western that doesn't need any stinking 3-D effects to entertain or pump up its profit margin. Johnny Depp is the voice of Rango, a…
The Adjustment Bureau (Review)
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Writer/director George Nolfi makes a smooth transition from screenwriter to filmmaker with his feature film debut. As the writer of such intrigue-action movies as The Bourne Ultimatum and The Sentinel, Nolfi knows a thing or two about creating suspense. Loosely based on a 1954 short story by Philip K. Dick,…
Last Train Home (Review)
China’s coming maelstrom of cultural tension is a central theme in Chinese/Canadian filmmaker Lixin Fan’s Last Train Home, a gritty, verite-style documentary about a family struggling to adapt to its country’s evolving, increasingly globalized economy. Lixin fixes his narrative (and inquisitive hand-held camera) on a married couple, Changhua and Suqin Zhang, onetime rural farmers who…
Feb. 23-March 1: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY FEB. 23 We at WWE! are no strangers to the term “callous insubordination” — the other day we asked an intern to come in on a Wednesday and do you know what that little bastard said? That his economics class was more important than our bar listings! Economics! The Enquirer today reported another heinous…
Hip Hop (Un)Scene: On to the Next One …
B leak-ass February is over. This, as far as I’m concerned, means winter is over. Oh, it might still snow in the next two to three weeks, but it’s such a punk-ass snow. Winter in March is like an abusive alcoholic father you dealt with as a child and then grew up to see as…
Sense and Sensibility: Miguel Arteta
M iguel Arteta’s films have a specific sensibility, a whimsical yet grounded tone and feel that sets them apart from most everything else on the current cinematic landscape. The 45-year-old director’s work — from Star Maps (1997) and Chuck & Buck (2000) to The Good Girl (2002) and Youth in Revolt (2010) —is no doubt…
Hitting the Oligarchs in Their Wallets
I t’s time to change your shopping habits to help save democracy. That’s the message of the loosely organized, shadowy group of computer hacktavists known as “Anonymous,” the group responsible for coordinating online protests to promote freedom of speech and free, unrestricted access to the Internet. In this nation, Anonymous probably is best known for…
Angela Wong Miller [Oriental Wok, Owner]
Family-owned businesses are few and far between. A family-owned restaurant that has not only survived but also flourished for over 30 years is even more difficult to find. The Wong family makes the recipe for success look effortless: involve the family in all aspects of the business, produce excellent food, staff each restaurant with knowledgeable…
