Dance: Fun, Fit and Fearless
There's much to like in Exhale Dance Tribe's new show produced by Know Theatre, aren't we all but a dance of particles?: a pair of gifted choreographers in founding artistic directors Missy Lay Zimmer and Andrew Hubbard; a talented group of energetic young dancers who give their all; Derek Snow's onstage poetic musings woven around…
Color Me Kubrick (Magnolia)
Color Me Kubrick 2005, Not Rated This is like a really slight, slapdash version of Borat. John Malkovich has a grand (-standing) old time as he dominates virtually every scene as Alan Conway, a gay, broke British lush passing himself off as reclusive director Stanley Kubrick in order to seduce gullible men of their…
Diner: Suburban Gem
Joe Lamb At the end of a modest strip mall in Loveland —which also houses a brightly lit Subway franchise, an unoccupied storefront, a weight-loss center and a Chinese restaurant — sits Roberto's International and American Cuisine. Roberto Villalba and his wife, Bunny, opened their restaurant in September 2006. Originally from Colombia, Villalba previously…
Lookwhos: Look Whos Eating: Sean Kagy
Graham Lienhart Sean Kagy, chef/owner, one restaurant & lounge Entering one's beautifully restored Art Deco building, you feel like you're walking into a swanky 1940s dinner club. Chef/owner Sean Kagy created this mid-century modern vibe to showcase his redefined modern American cuisine. "That just means familiar food prepared using quality ingredients," he explains. "But…
Film: Head Games
Miramax Joseph Gordon-Levitt (center) and Matthew Goode share a beer in Scott Frank's subtle crime drama, The Lookout. Seven years ago, Christopher Nolan introduced audiences to a very special amnesiac named Leonard (Guy Pearce) in Memento. Leonard lacked the capacity to create lasting short-term memories — a debilitating situation in and of itself, but…
Books: Lessons in Literacy, Graphics and Graffiti
Graham Lienhart There's an Octopus Under My Bed co-author Dean Blase with daughter Francine If you don't have a kid, chances are you're not hanging out in the children's section of the bookstore very often — unless you're creepy or picking up the new Harry Potter. Chances are then likely that you might miss…
Fresh Full of Surprises
Lunch doesn't usually start with someone in a suit opening a door for me. But that was just the beginning of the pleasant surprises fresh (36 E. Fourth St., 513-421-1020) had in store for me. The restaurant, one of downtown's newer lunch spots, serves what the name suggests: healthy food with a heavy emphasis on…
The Johnny Carson Show (Shout! Factory)
The Johnny Carson Show 1955, Not Rated Seven years before Johnny Carson took over The Tonight Show and became the king of late-night television, he had a short-lived prime-time comedy/variety show on CBS. It lasted but 39 weeks in 1955-1956 and was promptly forgotten. But now ex-wife Joanne has supervised a release of 10…
Anton In Show Business
Performance Gallery Sam Womelsdorf (left) and Aretta Baumgardner star in local playwright Nathan Singer's Good Evening, Pigtown. If you like Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's production of Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (I did; check out my review on page 44), you might be interested to know that its director, BRIAN ISAAC PHILLIPS, is undertaking another…
Onstage: Human Comedy
Rich Sofranko Kate Willfo stars in CSC's Cherry Orchard. Watching Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's current production of Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, I found myself asking why we don't see works by this playwright more often. The simple answer is that his classic plays (this one, his last, was produced in 1904) have large casts:…
Web Onstage: 31ST HUMANA FESTIVAL OF NEW AMERICAN PLAYS (2007)
Harlan Taylor Something Wonderful Ends – Lori Wilner The 2007 edition of Humana Festival of New American Plays (back for year 31) ran between Feb. 25 and April 7. The festival is recognized as a major event in the theater world, the place where a half-dozen new plays are premiered annually. It has become a…
Optimal Well-Being
What do your actions reveal about your basic beliefs and assumptions? Think about it: What if a person who was completely non-judgmental and not emotionally connected to you were to witness the decisions you make every day? What distinctions would they conclude about your reasoning? Would they think you were knowledgeable about wellness strategies, or…
Locals Only: : Wojo
Dale M. Johnson Wojo My chair leg sinks into a crater-sized hole in the wood floor at Arnold's Bar and Grill where Justin Lynch (vocals, guitar) works. We sit in the back by the heater. Weirdly enough, behind us another musician slides through the back door, unloading equipment. Lynch opens and closes the door,…
Upcoming Concert Reviews of Vietnam, Vast and More…
Girlie Action VietNam VietNam with The Black Angels and Lab Partners Saturday · Southgate House In classic Rock fashion, VietNam has spent the last six years becoming an overnight sensation. The Brooklyn-via-Texas quartet's self-titled debut full-length, released two months ago, has been lauded by a broad spectrum of media, from Rolling Stone to Pitchfork…
Music: Sibling Revelry
Meg & Dia are just like any other sisters … except they tour the country, record albums and read about their familial disagreements in the press. Ashlee Simpson has expended a lot of energy trying to get people to take her rocked-up Pop seriously. It's not working. The Veronicas, twins out of Australia, upped…
Film: What’s in a Name?
Fox Searchlight Kal Penn (left) and Zuleikha Robinson star in Mira Nair's The Namesake. What's in a Name? Mira Nair, the Indian-born American director of the gloriously sensual Monsoon Wedding, is certainly the right choice to adapt to the screen The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri's novel about a Bengali family's life in the U.S. Most…
Cover Story: Best of Cincinnati 2007
Casey Riordan Millard Best of Cincinnati When you get around to your 11th annual Best of Cincinnati® issue, you start wondering how many new ideas remain. Have we already said everything there is to be said about life in Greater Cincinnati? Are there any fresh approaches we haven't tried? So when planning began for…
Reefer Madness Takes Over City Hall
Matt Borgerding While backing a new jail, Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune (right) says we should quit locking up pot smokers. There's only one reason marijuana isn't legal in this country: No one has organized an effective movement to make it happen. A case in point is the last-minute lobbying last year by people…
Music: The Human Aqueduct
Alicia J. Rose David Terry found invaluable support from artist-nurturing label Barsuk while recording his latest album. David Terry's first two albums as Aqueduct, 2003's Power Ballads and 2005's I Sold Gold, were bedroom recordings that earned the Oklahoman a ticket to Seattle and a ton of acclaim. For his third album, Or Give…
Blue Humor
Most times, when the average citizen sees Cincinnati Police Chief Thomas Streicher Jr., he's on the news defending or explaining an unfortunate action, an inflammatory incident, a misguided policy, a questionable shooting, a procedural or fatal error, a departmental failure, a glaring oversight, a breach of the public trust, a moral lapse, a subordinate officer…
Just Two Real Candidates for UK’s Basketball Coach Vacancy
Jerry Dowling Tubby Smith escaped from one of college basketball's premier jobs last week, raising a question as to whether the University of Kentucky position is still so attractive that just about anyone would take it. The Wildcats are looking for a new coach at the very moment when Ohio State is back in…
News: Living the Possibilities
Natalie Hager (L-R) Richard Gabbour and his training partner, Casey Barach, prepare for the new Hope and Possibilities Run. Some things are impossible. A human being can't sprout wings and feathers simply because she wants to fly. But then humans have an annoying habit of rejecting limitations and doing such things as engineering an…
Music: Making a Killing
B-Side Film Erykah Badu sounds off in Before the Music Dies. During the 2004 Grammys, National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences CEO Michael Greene used his brief airtime to wag his finger at music consumers. Greene scolded us by saying, "No question the most insidious virus in our midst is the illegal downloading…
News: Jail Tax Redux
J.D. Cutter The former home of the Weiner the World Awaited could become the site of a new county jail. Kahn's has agreed to donate its former meatpacking factory to the county. For the second time in less than a year, Hamilton County voters this summer likely will be asked to increase the county's…
Living Out Loud: What’s Best About Cincinnati?
When people start to recognize me on the street, that's when I think I've been writing this column too long. I was standing outside 810 Main St. downtown, smoking a cigarette and taking a break from my part-time consulting job at Elgin Office Equipment. A young girl passed me by on the sidewalk. She stopped,…
News to Use
Back from Syria The highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Syria in three years speaks at two public events in Greater Cincinnati this week. Assistant Secretary Ellen Sauerbrey of the U.S. State Department Bureau of Population, Migration and Refugees is just returning from a trip to Jordan, Egypt and Syria to assess the Iraqi refugee situation.…
Ready to Rumblebilly?
Rockabilly music seems to have more spin-offs than All In the Family. Sub-genres include Psychobilly, Voodoobilly, Thrashabilly, Punkabilly, Horrorbilly, Countrybilly and numerous others. I even found one Web site that said if you want to start a Rockabilly band but haven't yet, you play "Probabilly." With a couple of exceptions, many of these 'billy clubs…
Troublemaker’s Journal
While the United States remains mired in the bloody mess it has made of Iraq, President Bush, with the collusion of Tony Blair and Israel, is maneuvering to create a pretext for war with Iran. Iran has been accused of developing military nuclear capability and aiding insurgents in Iraq and now is accused of detaining…
The Bengals Respond
In the summer of 1995, the Bengals made a decision with profound ramifications for this community. Faced with the opportunity to move to Baltimore, the team said no and worked to get new stadiums for both the Reds and Bengals built here — a project that has transformed the Cincinnati riverfront, set the stage for…
