Mar 9-16, 2016
Ohio Primary Primer: Can Anyone Stop Clinton and Trump?
Miracles from Heaven
There has always been something intriguingly wholesome about Jennifer Garner, which she has never shied away from when choosing roles. She has been the little girl trapped in an adult’s body (13 Going on 30), the aspiring adoptive mother (Juno) and the love interest capable of redeeming the impossible horn-dog (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past). But…
The Divergent Series: Allegiant
I have concluded that the world of young-adult fiction follows a mind-numbing adherence to pursuing projects rooted in the tried and true, the overly familiar and the safest, least risk-averse course available — much like the Hollywood studio system. Which means, in the case of The Divergent Series and in particular this latest adaptation, audiences…
The Bronze
Feeding the celebrity beast is the theme captured in The Bronze, an indie dramedy from director Bryan Buckley (2013 Best Live Action Short Film nominee for Asad), from the poisoned pens of Winston Rauch and Melissa Rauch; the latter stars as a former gymnastics diva with her heroic days a decade in the rearview. Hope…
Event: Day of Happiness
Mayor John Cranley has officially declared March 19 Cincinnati’s Day of Happiness, falling just a day before the international campaign, which has been recognized since 2013. Celebrate on Fountain Square with a slew of activities dedicated to inspiring people and raising awareness on how to make the world a happier place. Watch the square come…
Music: Rihanna
Admit it: You sing along to Rihanna’s “Work” in the car and are only slightly annoyed when it’s stuck in your head. Stop pretending and let loose this Saturday when her Anti World Tour stops by U.S. Bank Arena. Anti, Rihanna’s eighth studio album, is the first to be released since 2012’s Unapologetic; it rocketed…
Art: 30 Americans at the Cincinnati Art Museum
If you’ve been to the Cincinnati Art Museum lately, you’ve seen an early arrival for the show 30 Americans, which opens Saturday. It is the mural-sized “Sleep,” by Kehinde Wiley, the New York-based portrait painter whose depictions of young African-American men in poses reminiscent of Old Masters paintings have made him an art star. It…
Event: Art on Vine
Get your monthly shopping fix by browsing works by local artists and craftspeople at Art on Vine. This boutique art fair showcases fine art, handmade goods and photography from more than 60 local makers. If you’d like to keep it local after shopping, bring proof of your Art on Vine purchase to A Tavola and…
Music: Elephant Stone
Many of today’s Psych Rock bands have a sound that can be traced back to a certain period in music history. For Canada’s Elephant Stone, that moment is when George Harrison first put a sitar on a Beatles track. While the group continues to experiment with elements of Indian music (beyond the sitar, the band…
Dance: Wild Sweet Love
This triple-bill collaboration between Cincinnati Ballet and BalletMet Columbus is presented in three distinct pieces: Wild Sweet Love, Who Cares? and Age of Innocence. The night begins with the namesake Wild Sweet Love, an exploration of love’s ups and downs with contemporary music from artists as varied as Roberta Flack and Queen. George Balanchine’s Who…
Event: Millennicon
Chewie, set the hyperdrive for the Clarion Hotel: Millennicon, the literary-based sci-fi convention, returns for its 30th year. Explore the future of the unknown with a weekend full of programming. Events include panels on topics ranging from Doctor Who to authentic Victorian underpinnings, readings from sci-fi authors, group gaming sessions, anime screenings, talent shows, a…
Art: Carnal Worship at Glacier Gallery
Glacier Gallery, a new contemporary art space in the front half of the former semantics gallery in Brighton, will showcase the work of illustrators Gabby Gash and Robert Inman in an exhibition entitled Carnal Worship. According to the gallery’s press release, the show focuses on an excessive fascination with the erotic. Prints of Gash’s and…
Onstage: The Beauty Queen of Leenane
You think you have problems with your mother? You should compare notes with Maureen Folan about her maternal relations. In Irish writer Martin McDonagh’s 1996 play, it’s more like outright warfare between Maureen and Mag. It’s been said that mutual loathing might be more durable than love, but this is one painful household in rural…
Event: Saint Patrick’s Day on Fountain Square
Take a sick day — or at least grab a pint of stout on your lunch break — because Fountain Square turns into Dublin for a day in honor of Saint Patrick. The party kicks off at 11 a.m. with live Celtic Rock, themed food and ice-cold green beer. Erin go Bragh! 11 a.m. Thursday.…
Event: Luck O’ the Irish Mini CANvention
The Cincinnati chapter of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America hosts its 40th-annual Luck O’ the Irish Mini CANvention breweriana event and show. This tradeshow features all the things you need to outfit your man cave — antique brewery collectibles, new craft beer advertising and stuff from the ’70s and ’80s. There will be room-to-room…
Event: Saint Patrick’s Day at the Irish Heritage Center
Start March 17 with a Saint Patrick’s Day Mass at the Irish Heritage Center honoring the men and women who have passed on, with a specific focus on the people lost in the Easter Rising of 1916. The Mass will be followed by a traditional Irish party with Celtic music from Mick McEvilley, dancing, sing-a-longs,…
Comedy: John Heffron
On stage, comedian John Heffron likes to talk about what’s going on in his life, particularly his marriage. He’s conscious of his audience, though, and realizes some of the 20-somethings might not be able to relate to marriage jokes — but he’s certainly not shy about offering advice when it comes to relationships. “I joke…
Lit: Chris Bachelder
Author and University of Cincinnati professor Chris Bachelder’s latest comic novel, The Throwback Special, centers on a group of guys who meet every year to reenact one of the most gruesome injuries in sports history — the breaking of Washington Redskins’ quarterback Joe Theismann’s leg during a Monday Night Football game in 1985. If Bachelder’s three…
Nonprofit Spotlight: Cincinnati Squash Academy
The Cincinnati Squash Academy is an urban squash program operating out of the Emmanuel Community Center in Over-the-Rhine where there are three brand new courts and a learning center. “We are aiming to blend squash and academics into one cohesive unit,” says Austin Schiff, executive director of CSA. The goal is to use squash as…
Spring TV Preview
The Path (Series Premiere, March 30, Hulu) – If you’ve been waiting to see Aaron Paul back on TV since Breaking Bad ended — or Hugh Dancy after Hannibal — this looks to showcase both talented actors. Paul stars as a man who, with his wife (True Detective’s Michelle Monaghan), joins a cult-like religious group…
A Quirky Degree of Visibility
Well-earned melancholy is a sexy attitude, and it is best represented in the eyes, shaded by lids no longer afraid of blinking and missing a moment. They sometimes close in our presence, these mature eyelids, and remain drawn down, allowing for a chance to cherish a past experience — the joy, yes, but also the…
Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Pop
Forget about Kermit the Frog's emerald-tinted angst, it's not easy being Joey Cook. The erstwhile multi-instrumentalist and songwriter known for his work with Cincinnati Indie Pop crew Pomegranates has long been stockpiling songs and ideas for solo projects, but with the completion of his very first full-length album, There Comes the Lord, he found himself…
Two Dance Companies Collaborate in Triple Bill
Wild Sweet Love, a triple bill presented by Cincinnati Ballet this weekend at the Aronoff Center, is the company’s sixth shared production with BalletMet Columbus. In 2014, a similar collaboration presented George Balanchine’s masterwork Symphony in C. Typically, the same program is presented in Cincinnati and in Columbus. Balanchine’s exuberant Who Cares? — set to…
Taft’s Daubigny Show: The Irony and the Ecstasy
Art history is nothing if not ironic. Back when Charles and Anna Taft were amassing the collection they would give to the people of Cincinnati along with their home (now the Taft Museum of Art), they avoided Impressionism. It was too experimental and daring — too untested by time — for them as they started…
Lisa Howard Began Her Broadway Career at CCM
America’s first musical theater program at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music is one of the nation’s most respected, typically ranked in the top-three training programs in the nation. Its alums often land on Broadway shortly after graduating. Getting a show so quickly is an accomplishment, but those who actually build successful careers are…
Becoming Kings
N ina Wells, who works under the artist name NinaMDot (pronounced Nina-em-dot), is as optimistic as they come. In January 2014, the self-taught photographer quit her job in the financial industry to do art full time, and she says after she took that leap of faith, “It’s been 100-percent amazing ever since.” The Madisonville-raised Cincinnati…
Hobbled but Hopeful
Octavius Ellis admitted that when teammate Kevin Johnson made a 3-point shot to give the University of Cincinnati basketball team an 88-85 lead over Connecticut with eight-tenths of a second remaining in the American Athletic Conference tournament, his first reaction was to run to Johnson and hug him for winning the game for the Bearcats. …
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning all. As you’d probably expect, we’re gonna talk about a lot of politics today. The topline: Ohio Gov. John Kasich won the GOP presidential primary in Ohio last night, squeezing out Donald Trump here. Trump, however, picked up Florida and other states, pulling further ahead of his closest competitor U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz…
Shooting for History
Xavier might be the best team in college basketball. No, really. — Washington Post , Dec. 21, 2015 In a year of historic firsts, Xavier’s national press, which has only grown more laudatory since December, has been justified. The Musketeers earned their highest national ranking in school history (No. 5) and spent 13 straight weeks…
2016 NCAA Tournament Preview
Reminder: Because of “first-round” play-in games, what used to be the first-round is now the second round; teams must win a third-round game to get into the Sweet 16.No. 2 Xavier vs. No. 15 Weber State, (9:20 p.m. Friday): Xavier’s outside shot at a No. 1 seed fell through the cracks when the Muskees lost…
She Ain’t Heavy
I am fat and a fat bigot. Let me explain myself, because there are more of us living in the general population than you might think. After three consecutive years of infections, illness and organ failure, I have lost and kept off 65 pounds. At my heaviest, I was a morbidly obese 242 pounds; now…
Worst Week Ever! March 9-15
Republican Group Might Need to Hire One of them Social Media Managers It’s 2016. Nobody knows where the world is going, much like it’s been throughout our history on this planet. What we do know is that this talented columnist’s goal of trying to balance the lampooning of politicians to avoid giving the appearance of…
A Conversation with The Colonel
I f you truly believe that variety is the spice of life, there’s probably no better place for you to shop than Colonel De Gourmet Herbs & Spices at Findlay Market. For 10 years, Colonel De Stewart — yes, he’s an actual Kentucky Colonel — has been tantalizing taste buds with more than 500 herbs, spices, rubs…
Music: They Might Be Giants
Back in the golden year of 1987, I discovered the aural and visual joys of They Might Be Giants almost simultaneously. John James, my boss/friend at Cincinnati’s Wizard Records, had recommended They Might Be Giants’ 1986 debut album, and within weeks of that initial headsmack, I experienced their nonsensically surreal homemade video for “(Put Your…
Sound Advice: They Might Be Giants
Back in the golden year of 1987, I discovered the aural and visual joys of They Might Be Giants almost simultaneously. John James, my boss/friend at Cincinnati’s Wizard Records, had recommended They Might Be Giants’ 1986 debut album, and within weeks of that initial headsmack, I experienced their nonsensically surreal homemade video for “(Put Your…
Music: MusicNOW
Though the Cincinnati natives of The National didn’t form their internationally successful Indie Rock band until they’d all moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., the band’s guitarist, Bryce Dessner, keeps strong musical ties to the Queen City in the shape of his annual MusicNOW festival, a unique, collaborative and creatively curated new music event that is now…
Sound Advice: MusicNOW
Though the Cincinnati natives of The National didn’t form their internationally successful Indie Rock band until they’d all moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., the band’s guitarist, Bryce Dessner, keeps strong musical ties to the Queen City in the shape of his annual MusicNOW festival, a unique, collaborative and creatively curated new music event that is now…
Music: Carly Rae Jepsen
Who would have thought back in 2012, when Carly Rae Jepsen’s ubiquitous “Call Me Maybe” reached No. 1 in 18 countries and she was touring arenas with Justin Bieber, that the Canadian Pop singer’s latest album, E•MO•TION, would become a critical favorite and that general audiences would relatively ignore it. Sure enough, E•MO•TION placed third…
Music: Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin and The Guilty Ones
There are few clichés as enduring and as ultimately true as brothers who will beat each other physically and emotionally senseless, but woe to the soul outside of the family circle who inflicts the same damage. That scenario is regularly played out with an even sharper edge in a musical setting. The Alvins don’t fit…
Sound Advice: Carly Rae Jepsen with Cardinox and Fairground Saints
Who would have thought back in 2012, when Carly Rae Jepsen’s ubiquitous “Call Me Maybe” reached No. 1 in 18 countries and she was touring arenas with Justin Bieber, that the Canadian Pop singer’s latest album, E•MO•TION, would become a critical favorite and that general audiences would relatively ignore it. Sure enough, E•MO•TION placed third…
Sound Advice: Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin and The Guilty Ones with Sarah Borges
There are few clichés as enduring and as ultimately true as brothers who will beat each other physically and emotionally senseless, but woe to the soul outside of the family circle who inflicts the same damage. That scenario is regularly played out with an even sharper edge in a musical setting. The Gallaghers, the Everlys,…
Music: Titus Andronicus
G randiose ambitions are nothing new to Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles. The name of his band is lifted from Shakespeare. The group’s second album, The Monitor, was a sprawling concept album based on the American Civil War. And, among many other pressing themes and preoccupations, the dangers of contemporary capitalism remain a constant topic…
Concepts and Connections
G randiose ambitions are nothing new to Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles. The name of his band is lifted from Shakespeare. The group’s second album, The Monitor, was a sprawling concept album based on the American Civil War. And, among many other pressing themes and preoccupations, the dangers of contemporary capitalism remain a constant topic…
God Save the Queen Movie
HOT: God Save the Queen Movie A reason for the stalling of the long-in-the-works film about Freddie Mercury and Queen may have surfaced recently during an interview with actor Sacha Baron Cohen, who was once attached to play Mercury in the movie. While Queen guitarist Brian May has said the comedic actor was too recognizable…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning all. Here’s what’s up in Cincy and beyond today. It’s your last day to vote in the Ohio primary election, so go vote, vote, vote. You can find out your polling location and accepted identification (which includes your driver’s license, military ID or a current utility bill or bank statement with your address…
MidPoint Music Festival Under New Management
Cincinnati’s Music and Event Management, Inc. is now producing the annual, early-fall MidPoint Music Festival. The event returns Sept. 23-25 under its new management. It will be MidPoint’s 16th-annual fest. CityBeat, which will remain a main MidPoint sponsor and partner, has owned and operated MPMF since 2008, when it was purchased from founders and local…
Fault Lines
West Chester isn’t known for its political protests, but GOP presidential primary frontrunner Donald Trump brought out the deep divides running through contemporary American politics during his March 13 rally in the sleepy exurb north of Cincinnati. A line of more than 4,000 people, many standing for hours in the rain, snaked around the 1,700-seat…
Your Guide to Ohio’s Presidential Primary
It is finally Ohio’s turn to vote for their party’s nominee. Poll hours are 6:30 am – 7:30 p.m. The Republicans’ last stand All hands are on deck to stop Trump’s warpath to the GOP nomination — even Marco Rubio’s campaign manager urged Ohio voters to vote for Gov. John Kasich, who is the only…
Morning News and Stuff
Happy Pi day, Cincinnati! I hope you enjoy that quick, nerdy distraction because it's also less than one day until Ohio heads to the polls to vote in the primary election. Here's a rundown of your morning headlines. Donald Trump spoke to a crowd of more than 4,000 on Sunday at the Savannah Center in West…
To Kill a Mockingbird (Review)
Critic's Pick The story told in Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is familiar: In a small Alabama town in 1935, a black man is unjustly accused of attacking a young white woman. The likely outcome of his trial is all but predetermined given the town’s prejudices, but the admirable defense mounted…
Your Weekend To Do List
FRIDAY EVENT: THE MINI MICROCINEMA Last year, the Mini Microcinema demonstrated that many Cincinnatians crave opportunities to take film seriously as an art form and communications medium — and now it’s back for a return engagement. C. Jacqueline Wood opens the 2016 iteration of The Mini at The Carnegie in Covington, with a screening of…
Saint Patrick’s Day Events
Green beer, Celtic Rock and parades. Happy Saint Patrick's Day! SATURDAY MARCH 12 St. Patrick's Day Parade — Since 1967, Cincinnati's Ancient Order of Hibernians have be hosting a parade in Saint Patrick's honor — rain, snow, sleet or shine. This year the parade celebrates its 50th anniversary with honorary grand marshals Chris and Janeen…
Stage Door
Looking for some good theater this weekend? There’s plenty to choose from on Cincinnati stages. Last evening I was at the Cincinnati Playhouse for the opening performance of To Kill a Mockingbird. If you’ve read Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel or seen the classic film starring Gregory Peck, you know the story. But I bet…
Primary Cheat Sheet: John Kasich
John Kasich (Republican) Fun Fact: Donald Trump is not the only person in the race with a background in TV. Ohio Gov. John Kasich used to host Fox News show Heartland with John Kasich. It was a similar format to The O’Reilly Factor, a show Kasich often served as a substitute host. Heartland with Kasich…
Slice of Cincinnati: Wave Pool
Surrounded by books, pamphlets and zine titles such as Noodle Doodle Coloring Book, never date dudes from the internet and How to Talk to Your Cat about Gun Control, Luke Kindle looks up from his nook in Wave Pool art gallery to cars whizzing past the window through the Camp Washington neighborhood. One half of…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all. Here’s your morning updates real quick-like. A Hamilton County Courts judge yesterday acquitted two Cincinnati police officers on charges they covered up a fellow officer’s drunk driving crash. Officer Jason Cotterman and Sgt. Richard Sulfsted were charged with obstructing justice and dereliction of duty for their alleged involvement in hiding a car accident…
