Council Members Demand Answers on Budget Alternatives
Councilman Chris Seelbach says Mayor Mark Mallory and other city officials are wrong to claim Plan B , which would lay off 189 cops and 80 firefighters and make other cuts to city services, is the only solution to the city’s budget deficit if the parking plan isn’t implemented. Seelbach and Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld called…
A Dog with No Name
When I found out more about the dog late this past fall, I felt bad for what I’d been thinking all those months. I didn’t like the dog — whatever its name was. Turns out it didn’t even have one. I first noticed him last spring. So did a lot of other people on the…
Event: Taste of the World Food Tour
Not only can Findlay Market provide you with an eclectic taste of Cincinnati, they now offer a Taste of the World food tour. This 20-person tour leads you around the market on a little foodie adventure. Starting at Daisy Mae’s on the Race Street end of the market, you’ll get a brief introduction to Findlay…
Event: Guided Ghost Tours of Music Hall
Do you happen to be someone who can be described as one of the following types of people? 1) Obsessed with all four (and counting) Paranormal Activity films; 2) Can’t get enough of Casper, the Friendly Ghost; or 3) Wondering why Halloween is still half a year away? If any of these statements define you,…
Events: Monster Jam
Ah, there’s nothing quite like the smell of crushed car chassis and burnt diesel in the quiet hours before dusk. What, you agree? Good. Then come on down to U.S. Bank Arena this weekend to watch the glorious Grave Digger — the most illustrious and famous monster truck in America — destroy everything in his…
Event: Wildflower Festival
Flowers and plants and crafts, oh my! The Western Wildlife Corridor Wildflower Festival is back for its seventh year and blossoming into something huge. Spring will be in full swing in the College of Mount Saint Joseph’s gymnasium with more than 40 vendors and many activities for all ages to participate. Adults can purchase native…
Art: Modern Makers’ The Big Dinner
One of the many joys of spring (besides baseball’s Opening Day) is the seasonal produce obtainable by local chefs who, inspired by the available raw materials, concoct specialty dishes to feed your senses. Just in time for the season’s bounty is Modern Makers’ upcoming “The Big Dinner: Taste {Food Art}” event with Chef Frances Kroner…
Onstage: Parade
In 1913, a tragedy of many aspects happened in Atlanta. Leo Frank, a Jewish factory manager, was wrongfully accused of murdering a 13-year-old girl who worked in the pencil factory he oversaw and he was subsequently extrajudicially executed by a lynch mob. Composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown and playwright Alfred Uhry (who wrote Driving…
Film: Tattoo Nation
First-time director Eric Schwartz teams up with producer and writer John Corry to document the tumultuous rise of the black-and-gray tattoo culture, from its gang/prison roots to a global art form that is all about individual freedom and self-expression. Some of the memorable images, captured on moving flesh, are reminiscent of the cave drawings in…
2013 Urban Life Staff Picks
BEST GREENIE HOW-TOS We once called Park + Vine a “general store of the future” back in 2009, when a store dedicated to sustainability and all things greenie was new and unusual. Today, we’re happy to say we’d just call it a general store — we’ve reached that future where it’s not weird or unusual…
2013 Shops & Services Staff Picks
BEST HAND-SEWN DENIM FOR DUDES Every man wants a pair of hand-sewn, quality jeans — even if he doesn’t know it. And that service and expertise is what NOBLE Denim provides. Each pair of jeans is handmade and tailored for the person who wears them. Founder, creative director and jeansmith Chris Sutton sets his brand…
2013 Urban Life Reader Picks
Apartment Community: Current @ The Banks 2 American Can Lofts 3 Lofts at Shillito Place Bed and Breakfast: The Clifton House Bed & Breakfast 2 Gaslight Bed & Breakfast 3 TIE: Murphin Ridge Inn and Symphony Hotel Builder/Developer: 3CDC 2 Turner Construction Company 3 Drees Homes Building: Union Terminal 2 Music Hall 3 Carew Tower…
The Dear Hunter
Sometimes the side project eclipses the parent band; such is the case with Casey Crescenzo’s The Dear Hunter. Crescenzo formed The Dear Hunter in 2005 when he began writing Alternative/Progressive Rock songs that didn’t fit the Post-Hardcore mold of his primary outfit, The Receiving End of Sirens. In late 2005, he collected his initial demos…
Anthrax
With lead guitarist Rob Caggiano’s recent and seemingly sudden departure from Anthrax to join Danish metalheads Volbeat, many fans of the group, like me, wondered what the future would hold for the Thrash legends. But going back through the band’s 30-year history, I’ve come to find that Anthrax’s career has not only been built around…
Bobby Long
Long before his first album, Bobby Long acquired a following due to his friendship with a certain sparkling vampire and writing a song for one very popular soundtrack. Soon after, he released A Winter Tale. The album earned quite a few Folk generalizations due to its acoustic styling. That was pretty unfair to the thoughtful…
Warm Soda
If brevity is a virtue, Warm Soda should be up for some sort of musical sainthood. The Oakland, Calif., quartet’s debut album, the recently released Someone Like You, clocks in at just more than 27 minutes but its 12 tracks quiver with the kind of unbridled Pop/Punk intensity that characterized The Kinks’ early singles, the…
2013 Shops & Services Reader Picks
Acupuncture: Carole Paine 2. Mimi Tagher 3. Alliance Institute for Integrative Medicine Animal Rescue/Shelter: SPCA 2. Adore-A-Bull Rescue 3. Recycled Doggies Antique Store: Wooden Nickel Antiques 2. Duck Creek Antique Mall 3. Ohio Valley Antique Mall Arts & Crafts Supplies: Hobby Lobby 2. Michaels 3. Jo-Ann Fabrics Arts & Crafts Classes: Michaels 2. Funke Fired…
2013 Eats Staff Picks
BEST HIP TAKE ON SUBWAY-STYLE PREPARATION When you think sushi, you probably think of a fancy restaurant with dim lighting, too-small portions and Electronic music bumping in the background. Fusian Sushi is defying that stereotype, joining the ranks of fast-casual downtown lunch joints with healthy, locally sourced fare and sushi rolls you can design yourself.…
2013 Eats Reader Picks
Overall Restaurant: Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse2 Montgomery Inn3 Bakersfield OTR4 The Precinct5 Boca6 A Tavola7 Nada8 Arnold’s Bar & Grill9 Bella Luna10 Moerlein Lager House New Restaurant (Since March 2012): Moerlein Lager House2 Crave3 Metropole4 Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse5 BrewRiver GastroPub6 Django Western Taco7 The Anchor OTR8 Tacocracy9 Kaze10 Strong’s Brick Oven Pizza Appetizers: Bakersfield OTR2 Bonefish…
Morning News and Stuff
It’s Opening Day today, which means it’s time for a citywide celebration of the Cincinnati Reds and baseball. At the City Council meeting last week, Mayor Mark Mallory declared today a local holiday, so if you need an excuse to sneak in a few beers while watching the parade at work, say the mayor made…
Ohio BMV to Issue Licenses to Children of Illegal Immigrants
After months of deliberation, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles decided today it will grant driver’s licenses to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, which means the children of illegal immigrants can now qualify for Ohio driver’s licenses. DACA is an executive order signed by President Barack Obama that allows the children of illegal…
Cranley Proposes Budget Plan
In response to the March 28 announcement that City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. has begun implementing a plan that will lay off cops and firefighters, mayoral candidate John Cranley released his own budget plan that claims to avoid layoffs and the implementation of the city’s parking plan. But critics say Cranley’s budget is unworkable. Cranley’s…
Eight Local Eating Challenges
If you're looking for your own 15 minutes of fame but find your skill sets are generally limited to things that are superfluous — or, in this case, possibly self-destructive — your best bet might be to take up one of these local eating challenges (these are the ones we know of — we bet…
Your Weekend To Do List: 3/29-3/31
Whether or not the weather wants to cooperate, it’s spring, dammit. So, this weekend, grab a popsicle, throw on your Easter best, go play in a park and celebrate the season — even if you have to do it while wearing a sweater. Local small-batch gourmet popsiclery streetpops opens for the season this Final Friday.…
Morning News and Stuff
Yesterday, Hamilton County Judge Robert Winkler gave a ruling that effectively opened the parking plan to referendum, but city officials said the decision poses major fiscal and legal challenges to the city. Mayor Mark Mallory and City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. said the lack of a parking plan will force the city to lay off…
Sample New Metal Releases from Grey Host, Gabriel’s Hounds
Saturday at Downtown club Mainstay, progressive Doom/Drone Metal act Grey Host will celebrate the release of its latest, Dawn for Vultures. You can pre-order the six-track release (as a CD, download or with a T-shirt) at greyhost.bandcamp.com and get an automatic download of lead-off track, “Noble Beast.” The band will also have copies of the…
Horseshoe Casino Announces Outdoor Concert Lineup
Cincinnati's new Horseshoe Casino has announced its outdoor concert season lineup and it's a fairly impressive list that puts the casino's music venue, which they've dubbed "The Shoe," in direct competition with larger outdoor sheds in the region (like Riverbend, PNC Pavilion and Fraze Pavilion in Kettering). Tickets for The Killers' May 16 show at…
The Book Club Play (Review)
The title of the Cincinnati Playhouse’s current production, The Book Club Play, straightforwardly describes the show (presented in the Thompson Shelterhouse Theatre), a comedy about five people with some personal history who come together for monthly conversations about books. But two catalysts disrupt their dynamic and multiply the humor. First, an avant-garde filmmaker has convinced…
City Officials Warn of Parking Ruling’s Consequences
Speaking at a press conference today, city officials did not mask their contempt for the ruling that put the parking plan on hold earlier in the day, saying it will force the city to make cuts and layoffs to balance the 2014 budget and potentially eliminate the passage of expedited legislation. The press conference was…
Are the Swedes Leading the Mannequin Revolution?
You know when you’re at the store and they’ve run out of your size in a shirt you really, really wanted? And you look at the one hanging on the mannequin hoping and praying it’s a medium so you can derobe her and leave with that peplum top? We all know that’s a lost cause,…
Judge Orders Permanent Injunction on Parking Plan
In a ruling today, Hamilton County Judge Robert Winkler said the city will have to allow for a referendum on the parking plan and imposed a permanent injunction pending the outcome of a referendum. The ruling means the city may be unable to rely on the parking plan to balance fiscal year 2014’s budget, and…
War Horse (Review)
Critic's Pick The touring production of the award-winning play War Horse is without question one of the most theatrically inventive and emotionally powerful shows I’ve seen in ages. It’s been broadly promoted, so perhaps you’ve heard that life-size puppets portray the central character, a horse named Joey, as well as other horses, swallows, crows and…
Morning News and Stuff
Cincinnati’s Youth Jobs Fair will be held today at the Duke Energy Convention Center between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. The fair provides an opportunity for young people, typically aged between 16 and 24, to look for work from a variety of participating employers. Mayor Mark Mallory says attendees should “dress for success,” as if…
Look for ‘American Idiot: The Musical’ in Cincinnati Next Year
Two weeks ago I caught a touring performance of American Idiot: The Musical when it made a three-evening stop at Dayton's Victoria Theatre (see review here). The performance of Green Day's album transformed into a musical theater piece was a noisy blast of defiance, full of energy – although a downer of a story about three guys…
Music: SHADOWRAPTR
The quartet known as SHADOWRAPTR has made a great name for itself. Granted, it’s an inexplicable-yet-wonderful kind of name. Heck, that could also be said about their music, too. SHADOWRAPTR, as a whole, raises a lot of questions. How would the members describe their music? Is there any logical method to the group’s songwriting? From…
Music: Gabriel’s Hounds
Saturday at Covington’s Madison Theater, local Death/Hardcore/Thrash Metal crew Gabriel’s Hounds host a release party for their latest effort, The Struggle Between … EP. You can sample the new album’s title track right now at reverbnation.com/gabrielshoundsofficial Joining the group for the all-ages show: Dark Region, Holesinger, Serpentarius, Souls for the Taking, It’s Either Me or…
Music: Grey Host
Saturday at Downtown club Mainstay, progressive Doom/Drone Metal act Grey Host will celebrate the release of its latest, Dawn for Vultures. You can pre-order the six-track release (as a CD, download or with a T-shirt) at greyhost.bandcamp.com and get an automatic download of lead-off track, “Noble Beast.” The band will have limited copies of the…
Music: Ryan Bingham
As the old adage says, “preparation meets opportunity” is often the path to success in the music world. However, a little luck doesn’t hurt, either. When you talk about the career of Ryan Bingham, all of the above is true. Bingham grew up in West Texas, spending a few years on the professional rodeo circuit…
Music: Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials
When Ed Williams and his half-brother James “Pookie” Young started the Blues Imperials in 1975, they were considered young Blues turks. Mentored by their uncle, Blues legend J.B. Hutto, who took his underage nephews on tour with him, the pair would sport fake moustaches to get into bars where they played. Guitarist/vocalist Williams and bassist…
Music: Lee Fields & The Expressions
In this age of disposable music and equally ephemeral careers, longevity of any kind should be celebrated. And Lee Fields should be the grand marshal of that parade. A Soul shouter with the passion and intensity of James Brown, Fields made his debut in 1969, served as a utility Kool & the Gang member in…
Music: Divine Fits
Divine Fits sounds pretty much as you’d expect of a band that features Spoon’s Britt Daniel and the Handsome Furs’ Dan Boeckner. The band’s debut, the aptly titled A Thing Called Divine Fits, finds the quartet — which also features drummer Sam Brown and keyboardist Alex Fischel — employing its lead duo’s addictive stock in…
Lit: Lauren Groff
Lauren Groff’s engrossing second novel, Arcadia, centers on the first child born in an upstate New York commune where utopian ideals inevitably clash with the darker side of human nature. The boy’s name is Bit, whom we come to know intimately over the course of the narrative’s move from the late 1960s through 2018 — an…
Music: Lady
Even on a muddy-signal, three-way conference call between Cincinnati, Atlanta and London, it’s clear that modern Soul duo Nicole Wray and Terri Walker of Lady share an affirming bond. Raised on opposite sides of the Atlantic (Wray grew up in Virginia and lives in Atlanta, while Walker is from London), their dialects call and respond…
Onstage: Pete Rose Live
Ask a non-Cincinnati native of a certain age what they know of the Queen City, and inevitably Pete Rose and the Big Red Machine will come up. Cincinnati is a baseball town — a fact never more evident than on Opening Day, which is something of a local holiday around here. And, despite his largely…
Art: Capturing the Essence: The Work of Gordon Baer
Handsomely composed, deeply moving, timeless or inextricably of their time and place; Gordon Baer’s photographs, now on view at the Kennedy Heights Arts Center in a career-spanning exhibition, are all of the above. Capturing the Essence: The Work of Gordon Baer purports to feature “rare photographs never shown before,” which turns out to mean never…
Temptation
An ambitious counselor (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) with a marriage and relationship consulting firm for wealthy clients struggles within the confines of the organization and under the strain of her own marriage to her childhood sweetheart (Lance Gross) that seems to be slipping into a rut. So, when a super-rich smoothie (Robbie Jones) shows interest, things spiral…
The Host
With The Twilight Saga over and done with, it’s time for Phase Two of the Stephanie Meyer assault on romantic popular culture. Writer-director Andrew Niccol (Gattaca and In Time) would seem to be the right fit for The Host, which melds rebellious young love with a battle for survival as an alien takeover leaves only…
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Worldwide grosses are likely the primary reason the Joes earned a second chance at box office redemption, since GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra was a CGI mess of epic proportions with leaps of logic and science that would defy even the most playful imagination using action figures in the yard. So it’s time to…
The Gatekeepers
The commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War has re-introduced heated debate over the Bush administration’s presentation of clearly false information regarding Iraq’s weapons program and their involvement in the 9/11 attacks, all of which draws attention to the politics behind wartime decisions, especially when abuses of the War Powers…
Turning Pussy Riot’s Rebellion Into Money
HOT Turning Rebellion Into MoneyPussy Riot did it, y’all! No, all of the members are still not out of jail, where they’ve been since being arrested for concert-bombing a Russian church with an anti-Vladimir Putin Punk song. But the Pussy Riot brand is thriving! A German lingerie company has copped the women’s image and given…
Morning News and Stuff
The U.S. Supreme Court is heading into its second day of hearings on same-sex marriage today. Yesterday, the Supreme Court held hearings for Proposition 8, a ballot initiative in California that overturned the legalization of gay marriage. Today, the court will hold hearings on the Defense of Marriage Act, the law that banned same-sex marriage…
The Calm Before the Storm (of Swords)
After a season of wildfire and wildlings, black magic and back-stabbing, Game of Thrones (9 p.m. Sundays, HBO) returns and the quest for the Iron Throne continues. The fantastical and addictive series, based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, is so chock-full of characters, storylines and twists, it’d be…
Gov. Kasich Appears to Flip Flop on Same-Sex Civil Unions
Gov. John Kasich on March 21 seemed to come out in support of same-sex civil unions during an interview with a Cleveland TV station, saying, “I just think marriage is between a man and a woman, but if you want to have a civil union, that’s fine with me.” But Kasich spokesperson Rob Nichols later…
Clock Ticking on Parking Plan
Hamilton County Judge Robert Winkler announced March 20 that he will extend the restraining order on the city’s parking plan until April 3, potentially delaying any ruling on the city’s plan to lease its parking assets to the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority for another two weeks. The delay does not necessarily mean a…
The Cliftones Celebrate New Single Release
Eclectic Cincinnati Reggae crew The Cliftones — one of the best Reggae outfits in the region — will be celebrating the release of their latest single, “Hold Steady,” this Saturday with a show at Northside club Mayday . DJ Mowgli will also perform. Advanced tickets are available now for $7. The first 100 people through…
W&S: Renovated Anna Louise Inn Would Discriminate Against Men
Financial giant Western & Southern last week accused city officials and other Anna Louise Inn advocates of repeatedly deceiving the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to obtain federal funds for the Inn’s long-awaited, $13 million renovation. Western & Southern’s lawyer, Glenn Whitaker, sent a letter obtained by CityBeat dated March 19 to City Solicitor…
Cincinnati vs. The World 03.27.2013
More than 16,000 pig carcasses retrieved from Shanghai’s Huangpu River — likely dumped by farmers unwilling to make the investments to safely dispose of the bodies — have Chinese officials concerned about the safety of Shanghai’s tap water. WORLD -2 Ohioans’ views on same-sex marriage have shifted radically since 2004, when 62 percent of voters…
Cincinnati Reds 2013 Season Preview
L ast season, the Reds finished with baseball’s second-best record and won the Central Division for the second time in three years. It was a pretty fun year for Reds fans, who saw the team win 97 games — the most since the 1976 Big Red Machine. Winning seasons are fairly new around here; before…
Western & Southern’s Shame Knows No Bounds
If a new letter released to the public on March 20 is to be believed, Western & Southern is not letting down in its ongoing fight to run the Anna Louise Inn out of the Lytle Park neighborhood. But the financial giant has sunk to a new low this time around: It is now accusing…
‘On the Road’ with Garrett Hedlund
Garrett Hedlund is going to be a star. The last time I felt this way about an actor in a less than stellar spotlight was after catching Heath Ledger in the double feature of 10 Things I Hate About You and A Knight’s Tale. They’re a pair of largely forgettable movies that pop up on…
How Clean Is Too Clean?
S tate environmental groups and an Akron-based energy company are at odds over a 2008 law that tasks the state and utility companies with meeting stringent requirements for renewable energy and energy efficiency. State Sen. Bill Seitz, the Cincinnati Republican who heads the Senate Public Utilities Committee, has agreed to review Ohio’s Clean Energy Law,…
Natural Mystery
The quartet known as SHADOWRAPTR has made a great name for itself. Granted, it’s an inexplicable-yet-wonderful kind of name. Heck, that could also be said about their music, too. SHADOWRAPTR, as a whole, raises a lot of questions. How would the members describe their music? Is there any logical method to the group’s songwriting? From…
Watch Write Now: Birth of a Critic
What’s your favorite film? It’s the first question people ask as soon as they find out what I do for a living. There’s a bit of awe in the question, mixed with a challenge, because after the initial surprise over meeting someone who gets paid to watch movies (and write about them — that’s the…
Lauren Groff’s Paradise Lost (and Mostly Regained)
Lauren Groff’s engrossing second novel, Arcadia, centers on the first child born in an upstate New York commune where utopian ideals inevitably clash with the darker side of human nature. The boy’s name is Bit, whom we come to know intimately over the course of the narrative’s move from the late 1960s through 2018 — an…
Worst Week Ever!: March 20-26
WEDNESDAY MARCH 20 A Pennsylvania judge today described her decision to make three of her own parking tickets disappear as a “major lapse in judgment.” Between December 2010 and January 2011, the judge reportedly tampered with public records and defrauded Lancaster County out of parking ticket revenue. After being caught, she was able to avoid…
Transatlantic Soul Sisters
Even on a muddy-signal, three-way conference call between Cincinnati, Atlanta and London, it’s clear that modern Soul duo Nicole Wray and Terri Walker of Lady share an affirming bond. Raised on opposite sides of the Atlantic (Wray grew up in Virginia and lives in Atlanta, while Walker is from London), their dialects call and respond…
The Trouble with Growing Up
There’s one reason I’d really like to have children someday and one reason I want to get my tubes tied the next chance I get, and they both happen to be the same thing. I don’t want to stop being a kid myself. Lately, people have started calling me “ma’am” more than usual. I’m 22,…
GOP: Gay Old Party
In a political mash-up that transcends irony, the United States Supreme Court convenes to hear two cases challenging the constitutionality of bans on same-sex marriage — the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 — just as scions of staunchly conservative Republicans, the folks who brought you the bans, emerge from that deep…
Music: The Cliftones
Eclectic Cincinnati Reggae crew The Cliftones — one of the best Reggae outfits in the region — will be celebrating the release of their latest single, “Hold Steady,” Saturday with a show at Northside club Mayday. DJ Mowgli will also perform. Advanced tickets are available now for $7. The first 100 people through the door will…
