Let’s Talk
I've been working on a book project over the last few months. Much of my time has been spent reading and re-reading the email exchanges between my wife and me during our Match.com courtship. For nearly a month, outside three face-to-face dates, we communicated daily (several times a day in fact) online largely due to…
Business Is Business
Why should it be shocking that Mike Brown and the Cincinnati Bengals ("Prevent Defense," issue of March 14) exaggerated the deal they were getting from Baltimore? This kind of thing happens all the time in business, and sports are no different. There's no way to know what might or might not have happened. All that…
Onstage: Disharmony
Sandy Underwood Michael G. Bath and Elizabeth A. Davis star in ETC's Opus. You would imagine, I suspect, that a string quartet must be a set of people who finish each other's sentences, who might "be like four instruments played with one bow." That's the illusion, at least, demanded by a man who taught…
Upcoming Concert Reviews of The Howling Hex, Afterhours and More…
Sam Holden Afterhours The Howling Hex with Matthew Shelton Friday · Publico If there was an "Indie Rock & Roll Hall of Fame," Neil Michael Hagerty would be a first-ballot inductee. In the '80s, he was a key component of what turned out to be an Indie/Underground music supergroup, Pussy Galore (which also included…
Main Street Coming and Going
The morning after finds me creeping down the entryway. For the first time since I moved to Over-the-Rhine, I'm scared to see the street beyond my apartment building. The security gate's curling design sections a gleaming hood into paisleys, so at least the car is still there. I move closer and half-avert my eyes, giving…
News: Taken for a Ride
Scott Beseler Frequently changed routes and incidents of kindergartners being left at the wrong bus stops have led some parents to pull their children out of VLT Academy, according to Superintendent Valerie Lee. It's the phone call nobody wants: Someone is missing. She was supposed to be home by… It happened Feb. 2 to…
Diner: Palate Pleaser
I frequently see people milling about in the wine section of the local supermarket — or even in the area's better wine shops — reading the promotional hang tags or shelf-talkers while juggling several bottles indecisively. You can practically see their minds at work: Should they gamble on the $14 Australian Shiraz they've never…
Lookwhos: Look Whos Eating – Swami Naidu Sunkara
Graham Lienhart Swami Naidu Sunkara Indian-born restauranteur Swami Sunkara has been a regular fixture on the local dining scene for years. Back in 1994, when I first arrived in Cincinnati, it was at his Clifton Indian restaurant Mayura that I discovered my complete ineptitude for waiting tables. I lasted approximately two-and-a-half shifts before becoming…
Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Art Museum and More…
Andy Houston Not so off limits: patrons take in a recent CAC exhibition. Recently I sat amongst a group of young professionals, all of whom fancy a vibrant art-laden downtown complete with parties and music and anything quirky and cool that might put Cincinnati on the art world map. And yet the majority of…
Shouting to Chabot; Targeting Iran
Scott Beseler Can you hear us now? A crowd on Fountain Square March 19 shouted peace slogans in the direction of Rep. Steve Chabot's office. About 200 people rallied March 19 on Fountain Square, marking the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Each year, beginning with the first day of the attack,…
Music: Gran Day Out
James Minchin III Singer/songwriter Gran Bel Fisher is attempting to reconnect with the local music scene after already succeeding on a national level. The standard template for music industry success is to establish a local and regional presence, create a buzz, get noticed, endure the speculation and subsequent bidding war, sign a fat label…
Music: SXSW Midwestern Revue
Sara Yaste Andrew Gabbard and Buffalo Killers, as well as several other local musicians, represented Cincinnati music well last week in Austin, Tex. AUSTIN, TEX.
Art: Stepping Away
CAC Tristen Lowe's 23-foot-tall inflatable blue dolls, entitled "Alice," are part of the CAC's New Media/New Materials exhibition. Some of today's most celebrated artists are at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in a two-floor exhibition that's packed full with exciting creations: New Media/New Materials: Highlights in Contemporary Art from the Fabric Workshop and Museum.…
News: Other Interpretations
St. Martin's Press, LLC American society will someday view the persecution of gays and lesbians as similar to the evils of slavery, according to the Rev. Oliver Thomas. Born and raised in rural Tennessee, Oliver "Buzz" Thomas came from a devoutly religious Southern Baptist family, like many who lived in that part of the…
Tend Your Garden
Thank goodness it's spring, the season of new growth and renewal! We're anxious to get outside, come out of hibernation and feel the natural warmth again. Clearing out and beautifying our homes and yards for the new season becomes a priority. We have big plans for planting and caring for a beautiful, lush, productive garden,…
Musicians/Friends
Local benefit/tribute shows are often set up to raise funds for a charitable organization. Sometimes, friends will organize a benefit for one person, say, a sick child. And sometimes, a benefit show can even be held for an animal. Combine those last two and you have this week's "Pet Songs" tribute/benefit, taking place Saturday at…
Film: More Than Meets the Eye
Magnolia Pictures Bae Du-na stars in The Host, Korean director Bong Joon-ho's crafty homage to B-level monster movies. We've been told how hard it is for the pimps out there, but a good street hustle can pave the way for a golden future. Everyone acknowledges that Morgan Freeman's got game now, but back in…
News to Use
Death Row Survivor Speaks A man wrongly convicted of several crimes and sentenced to death in New Mexico will speak at 5:30 p.m. March 25 in Kelley Auditorium in Alter Hall at Xavier University. This event is sponsored by the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center (IJPC), XU Students For Life and the XU Criminal Justice…
Cover Story: Orchestrating the Eruption
J.D. Cutter Cincypunk Fest Comes of Age and its All About the Power and Glory of Rock & Roll Try to pick him out of a crowd. Just try. It's a more difficult task than it might seem. He's an enigma. A wallflower. If you've frequented local music shows and feel decently integrated within…
The Cherry Orchard
Sara Flatt (L-R) Bill Hartnett, Kate Wilford and Hayley Clark star in The Cherry Orchard. When I moved to Cincinnati in March 1980, the very first theatrical production I saw the week I arrived was Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. The great Russian playwright's works don't get…
Locals Only: : Ryan Muddiman
Graham Lienhart Jesse Rodgers and Ryan Muddiman Years ago, at a house in Xenia, I was in the shower when my friend Bobby sneaked in, put a boom box on the counter and yelled, "Listen!" High volume, a haunting male voice leaked, then poured out of the speakers. That was the first time I…
Xavier’s NCAA Loss Is a Moral Victory; UK’s Loss Just Sucks
Jerry Dowling Life after basketball for the Xavier Musketeers won't include the exciting story about a day they took down the top-ranked team from upstate while eliminating their former coach in the same moment of the NCAA Tournament. But they can always say it should have. The Musketeers played the game we've come to…
Grace and Common Sense at Security Check
Even before 9/11, airport security was sometimes traumatic for me. Since then, it has more than once propelled me to a stage of near meltdown. But today it was almost a pleasure, and I'll tell you why. No one mauled me. No one tried to hold my hand. No one spoke to me like I…
Christopher Ganz
CHRISTOPHER GANZ's large-scale charcoal drawings at The Carnegie in Covington are confluences of alter egos. His self-portrait appears everywhere — on the severed head of Goliath; on the cashier, customer and product at a discount store checkout lane; and on several business executives in a disturbingly Faustian meeting. In THE PROBE, Ganz draws himself…
