Minimum Gauge: Disney goes Metal
HOT: D-List Metallers Thrash Disney In 2014, Walt Disney Records commissioned EDM artists like Avicii and Kaskade to turn songs from classic Disney movies into club bangers for its “Hey kids, we’re cool!” compilation album, DCONSTRUCTED. Last year, Disney similarly went after certain music fans in Japan with Metal Disney, a collection of Disney songs…
Chatting with the Hit King
Pete Rose hasn’t lived in Cincinnati for more than a quarter century, but is it really a surprise that the local native, baseball’s all-time hit king, topped CityBeat’s annual Best of Cincinnati poll in the category of Best Cincinnatian? It’s pretty clear that Rose won’t be entering the Hall of Fame anytime soon, but Major…
Cincinnati Art Museum appoints three new curators
The Cincinnati Art Museum on Tuesday announced the appointment of three new curators to fill positions that were vacant or filled by acting curators. They are: Ainsley M. Cameron, Curator of South Asian Art, Islamic Art and Antiquities: She will oversee acquisitions and collections from South Asia, Nepal and the Himalayan region, as well as…
Morning News: Second dies of Cameo shooting wounds; Delta Queen could sail again; AG Sessions orders reviews of police reform efforts
Hello all. Hope you had a great Opening Day and enjoyed the parade as much as I did. Apparently, there was also some kind of ballgame that happened downtown after the parade, but we won’t talk about that. Instead, let’s talk about news. Here’s an interesting story about a forgotten moment almost a decade ago…
Vivid ‘Contemporary Color’
Certain cultural activities speak to and represent regional or group-specific values. The rhythmic majesty of marching drumlines, fierce combativeness and athleticism of step teams and effortless precision of cheerleading come to mind, and these activities also share a competitive element that elevates the performances and transcends labels and categories. The art of color guard, which…
Noon News: Shakeups continue at Clerk of Courts; Simpson grabs endorsements; big interest in park board director job
Good morning all. You know what day it is, and why I’ll be keeping this morning’s news update mercifully short. Go check out the parade. Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval dismissed several more workers from the clerk’s office Friday, continuing the shake-ups the Democrat promised during his underdog campaign against former Republican Clerk…
Ensemble, Know theaters announce 2017-18 seasons
Ensemble Theatre Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati has just announced an exciting season of premieres it will present starting in October. That’s a month later than usual for the Over-the-Rhine theater due to the finishing touches of construction on its newly expanded Vine Street facilities. A block away on Jackson Street, Know Theatre has also assembled an…
Morning News: Cameo arrests made; mayoral candidates wrangle about public safety; fomer Trump advisor seeks immunity
Good morning all. Here’s a little news for you before you head off to finish out the week. City officials yesterday evening announced they’ve arrested two suspects they believe were involved in Sunday’s Cameo Nightclub shooting. The Cincinnati Police Department says it has arrested Cornell Beckley and Deondre Davis in connection with the mass shooting,…
LISTEN: Cincinnati Music Releases – March ’17 Playlist
Three months into 2017 and the recorded output from Greater Cincinnati musical acts is looking pretty damn good. March has been another good month, and April is looking to be pretty spectacular as well (with new ones from The Upset Victory, Joesph and Brian Olive among the many releases slated). March releases that caught our…
Your Weekend To Do List (March 31-April 2)
FRIDAY 31 MUSIC: THE STRAY BIRDS The past five years have been a succession of pinch-me moments for The Stray Birds, beginning with their self-released, self-titled debut album, a Folk/Bluegrass/Pop hybrid that made National Public Radio’s Top 10 Folk/Americana list for 2012. The seeds for that event were sown years before, when Oliver Craven and…
Stage Door: Another Weekend Full of Great Theater!
Believe it or not, there are at least 10 shows on local stages this weekend. I second Erica Reid’s Critic’s Pick for A Raisin in the Sun at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. This classic play about strife between the generations of the African-American Younger family in 1950s Chicago is told by a talented ensemble cast that provides…
Morning News: Mayoral opponents square off over violence prevention; Clifton church vandalized; Sheriff Jones asks ICE, Trump to come to Butler County
Good morning all. Things are a little hazy after our super-fun Best of Cincinnati 2017 party last night, but I’m going to give you a brief rundown of the news this morning anyway because that’s what I’m here for. Mayoral candidate Councilwoman Yvette Simpson and Mayor John Cranley are both holding news conferences today addressing…
Northside’s ‘Living Room’
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in 2017. Cincinnati has changed a lot since 1996. Sure, the Bengals and Reds haven’t won a playoff game or series, respectfully, over that period, and Charlie Winburn is somehow still on City Council. But the city’s core — from Northside to Over-the-Rhine to the riverfront — has…
J-Ro’s Big Year
C’est l’amour. Everything chef Jean-Robert de Cavel does is executed with purposeful, energetic passion, whether he’s perfecting a dish in the kitchen, organizing his annual de Cavel Family SIDS Foundation Friends & Family SIDS Brunch — one of the country’s largest Sudden Infant Death Syndrome fundraisers — or showing off the dozens of eclectic saltshakers he’s collected…
Trump’s America: Feelings over Reason
Republicans, now aided by Donald Trump, have backed traditional news media into a corner. The New York Times, Washington Post and CNN are counter-punching with undiminished vigor, but it’s a no-win for fact-based reporting. Local news media suffer by association with the increasingly reviled national news media as critics embrace Trump’s fact-free world. From the Oval Office to…
What a Week! March 22-28
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22 Lindsay Lohan has taken time out from designing headscarves and donating energy drinks to Syrian refugees to a promote a new project: a Punk’d-esque social media prank show. Called The Anti-Social Network — which definitely is the name of an old episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, NBD — the show will find Lohan…
A Stand-Up Smorgasbord
Earlier this month, The Verge reported that Netflix plans to drop a new comedy special every week for the rest of the year. The streaming giant hasn’t officially announced this (the current schedule only goes through June and doesn’t quite feature 52 specials), but the confirmed lineup so far is promising. Amy Schumer’s The Leather Special and two long-awaited Dave…
Two films explore life during wartime
• How far would you go to help someone in need? Who would you be willing to help? Extended family? Friends? Neighbors? A group of people facing extreme persecution? The new adaptation of The Zookeeper’s Wife, Diane Ackerman’s international bestselling book, from screenwriter Angela Workman (The War Bride) and director Niki Caro (Whale Rider), starts…
UC Professor’s Book Examines ‘The Wire’
The Wire is often cited as one the best television series ever made. David Simon’s complex portrait of life in urban Baltimore ran for five seasons on HBO, from 2002 to 2008. And while The Wire had its champions during its initial run, far more viewers came to its particular pleasures after the fact. One such person…
New Play a Coming-of-Age Story Times Three
The Cincinnati Playhouse’s Blake Robison calls Jen Silverman “part of a new generation of very exciting and accomplished playwrights taking over American theater.” Continuing the Playhouse’s serious and overt commitment to new works by women, Robison is presenting the world premiere of Silverman’s new play, All the Roads Home, at the Playhouse. Following previews over…
Cedric Michael Cox infuses centuries-old art with ‘color and rhythm’
In his 11-piece show at the Taft Museum of Art, Cedric Michael Cox has given new life to a 17th-century Dutch still life, as well as to his own abstract oeuvre. “Dutch and Chinese Impressions” is the last painting Cox created for Color+Rhythm, and it’s the one that most wondrously brings the past into the present.…
What’s the Hops?: Beer and Baseball
Spring has finally arrived, which means baseball season is right around the corner — and so are baseball-themed beers. MadTree’s Rounding Third, a dry-hopped IPA, is back on draft and in cans and so is Rhinegeist’s Hustle, a sessionable red lager. Braxton is also getting into the baseball-beer game. On Friday, they’ll release an English-style mild called…
German-French restaurant Bauer is a completely unique must-eat downtown destination
With Cincinnati’s current embarrassment of restaurant riches and our distinctive German heritage, it’s surprising that there aren’t more German-influenced restaurants here. There’s Clifton’s perennial favorite Mecklenburg Gardens and Covington’s casual crowd-pleaser Wunderbar!, but there’s been nothing like the latest addition. Bauer European Farm Kitchen is a truly unique exploration of German cuisine with French accents…
Sound Advice: The Stray Birds (March 31)
The past five years have been a succession of pinch-me moments for The Stray Birds, beginning with their self-released, self-titled debut album, a Folk/Bluegrass/Pop hybrid that made National Public Radio’s Top 10 Folk/Americana list for 2012. The seeds for that event were sown years before, when Oliver Craven and Charlie Muench played together in River…
Sound Advice: Local Natives with Little Scream (April 3)
If you became a fan of Los Angeles-based band Local Natives when the group released its most recent album, last year’s Sunlit Youth, but were unaware of its previous work and want to check it out, you definitely should. But for an untainted listening experience, do not read any of the old reviews first. It…
Sound Advice: KOLARS (April 3)
As a singer/songwriter, actor, composer and producer, Rob Kolar is a multi-tasking quadruple creative threat. The grandson of legendary British actor Robert Shaw — best known as Quint in Jaws, Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting and an Academy Award nominee for A Man for All Seasons — Kolar has several acting credits of his own in independent films…
A Delicate Motor Expands with New Release
A Delicate Motor (or ADM) began about five years ago as the unique performing/recording project of Cincinnati musician Adam Petersen, who created compelling soundscapes by looping sounds from a variety of instruments (including keyboards, percussion and voice) and layering them both in the studio and in a live setting. Every sound on ADM’s 2013 self-titled…
Brandon Coleman has quickly assimilated into Cincinnati’s Jazz scene, resulting in his new album, ‘Infinite Loop’
Jazz guitarist Brandon Coleman has made an impact on the local music community since relocating to Cincinnati four years ago. And Cincinnati may have impacted him when he lived here as a toddler, although he doesn’t exactly remember it. “My dad was in law school at (Northern Kentucky University law college) Chase when I was…
Minimum Gauge: Unknown album breaks sale record on Discogs site… then doesn’t
HOT: Record Hoax Recently, an album sold through record resale outlet Discogs briefly became the most expensive music release ever sold through the site. But the sale was quickly canceled, leaving a bizarre backstory in its wake. The release — a test pressing of an album by extremely obscure Florida musician Billy Yeager — sold…
Morning News: Affordable housing takes center stage at mayoral forum; system glitches sideline streetcars; Canada mulls marijuana legalization
Good morning all. I hope you’re coming to our party tonight. Until then, let’s get some news out of the way, shall we? Last night, all three mayoral candidates — yes, Mayor John Cranley came after all — squared off at a forum hosted by the NAACP and the Prince Hall Masons in Bond Hill.…
2017 Best of Cincinnati
Find all of this year's results online here, and read the full digital issue here. Last year, CityBeat’s Best of Cincinnati issue turned 20. That’s two decades of recognizing the best people, places, organizations and things happening in our treasured river town — as voted on by readers and pontificated upon by our intrepid team of Cincy-loving staffers.…
Trump proposals mean deep cuts in affordable housing funds as need increases in Cincinnati
For five years, Ann Adams’ family knew her whereabouts only intermittently as she drifted through a life she now barely remembers, battling addiction and sleeping in abandoned buildings or wherever else she could find to lay her head. A long-ago felony conviction and a recent shoulder surgery make finding work difficult for Adams, and her…
