Comedy: Dan O’Sullivan
Dan O’Sullivan likes coming to Ohio, even though the St. Louis native has encountered some problems here. “I’ve had some trouble,” he says. “Bar trouble. Talking to the wrong woman.” Such are the risks you run when you’re, as some describe him, one of the last remaining “classic road comics.” It sure beats working for…
Paul Carrack, The Church, Hanne Hukkelberg and The Datsuns
Looks like another light week, not for lack of titles to cover but lack of time to cover them all. But even as I transfer another handful of discs from the “Review This Week” stack to the “Better Luck Next Week” pile, the calendar reveals a couple of light title weeks coming up very soon.…
Onstage: May Festival
The May Festival celebrates its 30th year with conductor James Conlon. This great vocal arts tradition combines the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra with legends of the vocal arts like Broadway’s Patti Lupone, renowned American tenor John Aler, the “new voice in opera,” Rebekah Camm and more. Opening night features Lupone singing Weill’s “The Seven Deadly Sins,”…
Art: No Gallery Left Behind at the Reed Gallery
As the galleries at the University of Cincinnati have faced imposed budget restraints, curator Evan Commander — with the help of Ryan Mulligan, Annie Schorgl and Sarah Blyth-Stephens — conceived No Gallery Left Behind, Reed Gallery’s current exhibition in which the conventional and costly modes of creating and presenting art are questioned and new solutions…
Music: The Dexateens
For the past 11 years, the Dexateens have been amassing fans and wowing critics with their unique blend of Southern arena Rock, homespun Folk lyricism, Gospel harmonies and contemporary Garage Rock sensibilities. The Tuscaloosa, Ala., quintet has been produced by Punk avatar Tim Kerr and Southern Rock icon-in-waiting Patterson Hood, and have earned wildly favorable…
Sports: ASA Action Sports Tour
People who can do 360s in mid-air on BMX bikes receive a lot of street cred. It’s true: Ask anybody at CityBeat how much respect they have for the dude on staff who blasted one two-and-a-half years ago and swears he could do it again today. For those who would rather watch this type of…
Events: Emery Legacy Tour Bus
Get on the bus! Reserve a spot by Wednesday, May 27 on the Emery Legacy Tour Bus, which leaves May 30 to survey the architectural legacy of the Emery family in Cincinnati. Sponsored by Betts House and the Mercantile Library, the bus leaves Betts House at 9 a.m. for a tour of all things Emery.…
Lit: Deadramones Zine Release Show/Party
If you didn’t read your CityBeat and missed the simulated campout at Bunk last weekend, this is your opportunity to check out the new downtown creative space at an equally cool event: Local “skateboard/music/art/enviro-anarcho-activism/whatever” zine deadramones celebrates its fifth issue with a release show and party, which starts at 9 p.m. Be there and you’ll…
Music: Rondi Charleston
Who knew TV news gatherers could be so cool? Recently, NBC anchor Brian Williams launched a new blog on which he writes about and interviews Indie Rock bands. Watching that guy on TV, you never get the sense that beneath the straight-faced veneer lies an aging hipster. While Williams will likely keep his day job…
Art: She Keeps It in Play at Semantics Gallery
The body of work on display in Semantics Gallery is, at first sight, as inexplicable as the show’s title suggests: She Keeps It In Play/They Don’t Know What To Call It. As abstract paintings, drawings and sculptures, they leave much to the imagination but they don’t entirely defy explanation. Curator Matt Morris (also a CityBeat…
Art: Lasting Impressions at Gallery Salveo
Cincinnati is home to an impressive community of printmakers with ties to the West Side print studio Tiger Lily Press and very rigorous programs at local institutions like the Printmaking Department at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. A number of these artists will be included in Lasting Impressions, an exhibition at Gallery Salveo. The gallery…
Art: Vanishing Cincinnati at the 5th Street Gallery
When David and Barbara Day cast a clear eye on the city, what they see are things the rest of us can no longer find. In Vanishing Cincinnati, an exhibition of the Days’ handcrafted prints, present time dissolves. The #49 streetcar cruises through Eden Park, the art deco Greyhound bus terminal still stands at Fifth…
Onstage: Marry Me a Little
The Cincinnati Playhouse has offered a steady diet of musicals by Stephen Sondheim over the past decade. If you’ve seen them, you might think you’re familiar with music by the legendary composer/lyricist. I have news for you: The current Shelterhouse production, Marry Me a Little, will feel like a new show, full of songs that…
Events: Taste of Cincinnati
Tastes like … fun? And fun tastes good! Celebrate the warm weather and Memorial Day Weekend at the 31st Annual Taste of Cincinnati, the longest-running culinary arts festival in the country. It’s a three-day event, so there will be no reason not to have something to do this weekend. With more than 40 local restaurants…
Music: Dale Watson
Somewhere along the line, someone decided that Country music should be defined by big hats and arena pyrotechnics and a 12-piece band and a light show. That may be entertainment with a hillbilly chaser but it ain’t Country, Bubba. If you’re looking for honest to God Country music the way it was intended to be,…
Lineup Announced for Cincy Blues Fest ’09
It's time to get liquored up on whiskey, slog through the humid summer heat and make that deal with the devil down at the river again. Yes, the Cincy Blues Fest itinerary has officially been announced for 2009. The summer celebration of America’s original musical art form has been going strong for 17 years. —-…
Broadway Across America Announces Season
Broadway Across American announced its Cincinnati presentations of six touring broadway shows for 2009-2010 today. —- Irving Berlin's White Christmas will open the season (Nov. 10-22, 2009). It's followed by Spring Awakening (Jan. 12-24, 2010), the teen angst musical that won the 2007 Tony Award, and it will be followed by Alfred Hitchcock's The 39…
Scratching My Head at the Acclaims
Last night The Cincinnati Enquirer presented for the fourth year its "me-too" theater awards, the Acclaims. (CityBeat's Cincinnati Entertainment Awards will mark their 13th year in August.) It was as quirky as ever, with no real explanation of how or who awards are decided on. I will grudgingly admit that any recognition for Cincinnati's theater…
Local CD Review: The Tempers’ ‘Mauled’
Veteran singer/songwriter Maurice Mattei and his band The Tempers celebrate the release of their new CD, Mauled, this Saturday at The Redmoor in Mount Lookout. The show will feature an opening set by local Surf Rock band, Don’t Fear the Reverb, plus appearances by David Wolfenberger, Mike Helm, Brandon Dawson, Sharon Udoh and more.—- Before…
Local CD Review: Eat Sugar’s ‘It’s Not Our Responsibility!’
If you were to place a bet as to what local band will be the next to follow the likes of Bad Veins, Pomegranates and Daniel Martin Moore into the ranks of “nationally acclaimed” Cincinnati area artists, putting your money on Electro/Indie foursome Eat Sugar is a pretty safe wager. One listen to the band’s…
Bike City!
One of my favorite things to do is ride my bike around the city. Whether it’s for exercise, transportation or recreation, I always feel great getting on the big black bull and flying around the city. I was riding today after work, heading down Spring Grove and was wondering to myself, “When is the city…
Hibernation Ends for Cincinnati Bands
While mindlessly stumbling down the information superhighway (which means MySpace Music if you’re a lazy rock writer) this afternoon, I came to a sudden realization (which means a blog idea): There’s a bunch of record release shows and parties coming up in the not-too-distant future. —-And while I fully appreciate the ADD-friendly nature of the…
Streetvibes Goes International
Cincinnati's newspaper for the homeless has received major recognition from the International Network of Street Papers, which handed out journalism awards last Thursday at its 14th annual conference in Bergen, Norway. Streetvibes Editor Greg Flannery was on hand to accept the award for Best Feature Story for "We Are Their Slaves," a story he wrote…
Witnessed from My Apartment in Northside
So … apparently homeless men use our back courtyard as their neighborhood self-service bar. For several days in a row, upon first moving in, I would come back from brunch shenans or some other stuffing-my-mouth-hole activity (boozing) only to find one or several dudes sitting at our outside table knocking back a couple. WTF, guys?!…
Dude, Where’s My Recruiting Class?
A few weeks before the spring signing period began, Mick Cronin hinted on a local radio station that there would be some surprises in store for Bearcat fans come April 15. Well, April 15 has come and gone, and with the signing period ending next week (May 20) it’s nearly time to panic. One of…
Tweet Carefully
In a sign of changing times, a top editor at The Wall Street Journal this week issued a memo to staffers about the rules of professional conduct for using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. The memo, which applies to the staffers’ official accounts through the newspaper, sets guidelines about appropriate behavior on the…
Politics, Sex and the Closet
There’s a lot of buzz among political junkies about Outrage, the new documentary by filmmaker Kirby Dick that premiered across the nation last week. The film explores the prevalence of politicians who remain closeted about their sexuality and whether their choice harms the LGBT community.—- The film provides circumstantial evidence to “out” several politicians including…
Marry Me a Little (Review)
Critic's Pick The Cincinnati Playhouse has offered a steady diet of musicals by Stephen Sondheim over the past decade. If you’ve seen them, you might think you’re familiar with music by the legendary composer/lyricist. I have news for you: The current Shelterhouse production, Marry Me a Little, will feel like a new show, full of…
Live Review: Kings of Leon at PNC Pavilion
Opening Cincinnati's summer concert season is always a difficult duty. A constantly fickle city in terms of their live music, Cincinnati crowds demand constant excitement and stroking from the band they are witnessing. Well, then what better band to choose for this tedious task than Kings of Leon? —-Hot on the heels of a sold-out…
Governor: ‘No’ on Anti-Gay Democrat
Despite rumors on state and national political blogs, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland told a private gathering in Cincinnati this past weekend that he has no intention of picking State Rep. Jennifer Garrison as his running mate in 2010.—- Strickland appeared at an LGBT-themed fundraiser Saturday afternoon at an East Walnut Hills residence. During a question-and-answer…
A Scribble-Free Summer … Bummer
Scribble Jam, the Midwest’s premier celebration of all things Hip Hop, is officially on hiatus for 2009. For those not in the know, the yearly fest, which usually straddled a weekend, was held at Annie’s Entertainment Complex on Kellogg Road in the East End and featured DJ competitions, MC battles, b-boys, graffiti artists, breakdancing and…
CityBeat Podcast 6: Bike Month
May is Bike Month. On this episode we'll hear from local bicycle commuters who took part in Queen City Bike's rolling press conference; CityBeat's Danny Cross, who wrote a cover story in 2008 on why Cincinnati isn't a very bike-friendly city; music by the bike-friendly band Turmeric; and Shawn Jenkins of Segway Cincinnati, which sells…
Chris Finney Serves Two Masters
Chris Finney must be feeling rather schizophrenic lately. The local attorney and arch-conservative activist is offering his services free of charge to the NAACP’s Cincinnati chapter, where he is chair of legal redress. His duties include assisting the chapter’s efforts at advancing the interests of the area’s African-American residents. At the same time, Finney continues…
Alan Patrick Kenny: He’s Still Here!
If you missed seeing Alan Patrick Kenny's swan song as music director of New Stage Collective's final production, a lovely mounting of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music (which sold out most of its performances at Know Theatre), you can hear him conducting again in a production of The Secret Garden at The Carnegie in…
Free Breakfast for Cyclists Thursday-Friday
This is "Bike to Work Week," the happiest time of year (next to Halloween of course) in my book. If you're on two wheels this week and the weather turns dry, you're in luck. —- Thursday is Bike to Work Day, when La Terza Coffee and Five Star Foodies are handing out light breakfast food,…
They Hate Taxes, Except When They Don’t
Now that Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper has announced he’s running for Ohio auditor, the first attack launched by Republicans is that tired old bromide that Pepper’s a ‘tax and spend liberal."—- Let’s put aside the fact that while Pepper has been on the three-member county commission, the Democratic majority cut expenditures so far by…
Jesse Ventura: Sometimes Simpler Is Better
Plenty of politicians and pundits have expounded upon the intellectual arguments about why the Bush Administration was wrong in using torture techniques on detainees during interrogation. Often, though, plain-spoken language is more effective in crystallizing an idea for people. The latest example is words uttered by Jesse Ventura, the former pro wrestler who was once…
Another Six Days of Reality TV and Fantasy Cures
WEDNESDAY MAY 6TV has taught America a lot about Cincinnati: 1970s sitcoms, ’80s rollerblade dramas, ’90s drug movies and the 2001 riots gave people a pretty good idea of what we’re all about. Today The Enquirer detailed the country’s latest perception of us, as MTV’s Taking the Stage reality show made our School of Creative…
Troy’s Cafe (Review)
I think a foodie friend recently said it best: “I’m no longer interested in the ‘complicated’ food. What I like best are restaurants with simple menus where they do simple food well.” I don’t know if she was channeling me or we’re channeling a general food trend that’s building, but I wholeheartedly agree. And, as…
Poor Taste
Poor Taste Angela Poynter’s smarmy letter about Covington’s AmeraAsia restaurant (“Bizarre Experience,” issue of May 6) causes me to ask, “What, indeed, had you been smoking before eating there?” The lady must have either had a very unusual experience or been coming down with poor taste. My wife and I regularly lunch at AmerAsia and…
Fu Fighters
Late-night Kung Fu movies and their bizarre hosts are something of a low-rent underground TV tradition. For years, stoners, cult film buffs and homebound loners alike have turned to the UHF dial, the refuge of offbeat, independent and non-network programming, for some much-needed martial-arts-oriented entertainment after a night of bonging out or skulking about the…
Sweet Success
Half Nelson was among the most extraordinary debuts of the past decade, perhaps more so given that its singularity was the product of two writer/directors, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. Sugar, their follow-up, is in some regards even more assured, more stylistically and tonally distinctive than its predecessor. It follows the titular Dominican pitcher (vividly…
Time to Limit the Moneychangers
There was a time, not too long ago, when if someone loaned you money and charged you 29 percent interest they’d probably be called a “loan shark” and hauled off to jail. That term, loan shark, is one you don’t hear much these days because the practice of usury has gone all respectable on us.…
Using Stimulus Money at Home
Buried somewhere in President Obama’s stimulus package is $75 billion to help Americans buy homes or stay in the ones they own. It’s called the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, and the White House expects it to offer aide to some 9 million people. If you don’t know much about it, you’re not alone. CityLiving…
Fighting Crime, Fighting Each Other
As local officials bicker about who bears responsibility for monitoring defendants while they’re out of jail awaiting trial, a related battle over a $2.6 million federal crime-fighting grant has been waged privately. Two Cincinnati City Council members, Republican Leslie Ghiz and Democrat Greg Harris, proposed spending $462,000 of the city’s portion to lease 75 electronic…
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (Criterion Collection)
The macho superstars of the 1950s and 1960s had a tough go of it in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Times were changing, they were too old for the hip youth culture of the New Hollywood and their kind of virile, iconic acting had lost favor for the more eccentric and idiosyncratic approaches of…
Wendy And Lucy (Oscilliscope)
It’s tempting to label this melancholy wisp of a film as a wake-up call for a nation gone bankrupt (in more ways than one). But Wendy and Lucy is far too subtle for that: It makes Marley and Me look like Porky’s. Kelly Reichardt’s follow-up to the excellent Old Joy tells the simple story of…
Shake Up the Lineup
In Dave Alvin’s world, you’re either burning up the highway miles en route to the next city’s show or back home in California, trying to figure out which band to take on tour this time next year. The celebrated roots-rocker, whose career has spanned his Rockabilly days with The Blasters back in the ’80s to…
Up With People
The other day I was reading The Stranger, Seattle’s truly alternative alt weekly newspaper, and came across the hilarious story “The Different Kinds of People That Are.” Writer Lindy West, calling her piece “A complete list,” discusses 35 or so archetypes she runs across in her daily life. First off, it’s amazing what you can…
Get Out
Are there days when it feels like the walls and ceilings at home are literally closing in on you? Well, try making the ceilings and walls disappear by moving those inside rooms outside. Outdoor living allows people to enjoy nearly all the comforts of indoors in a truly open and airy setting. The evolution of…
Bunk News Is Good News
Everyone’s an artist, so I’ve heard. Although one person’s definition of an artist might drastically differ from another’s, we each have our own creative outlet, whether it be through painting, writing, playing music or anything else that unleashes the muse within. So, if we’re all artists in some way, why is it that I feel…
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
Julie: Breakups during this age of cell phones and text messages seem to be so challenging, trying to get away from “it.” I’m usually one second away from getting this urge to send a text, avoiding painful conversations, just to make sure that the stupid one will at least think about me for a minute.…
Happy Chichester with Roger Klug
One of the cutest stories I’ve ever heard about any working musician pertains to singer/songwriter Harold “Happy” Chichester. At a 2002 solo performance in Columbus, Chichester — former frontman of Howlin’ Maggie, bassist for Royal Crescent Mob and auxiliary member of The Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers — chronically kept referring to himself as “Hot…
Roger Klug’s ‘Help’ Is on Its Way
Hard to believe, but it's been an entire decade since Cincy-based singer/songwriter Roger Klug released a new record. That project, Where Has the Music Gone: Lost Recordings of Clem Comstock, was an ambitious “concept” album on which Klug recorded a batch of songs in varying styles and under different band names, presented as the unearthed…
Fuel (Lunch Review)
I recently read an article about making biodiesel fuel out of spent coffee grounds. The grounds yield stable oil that can be extracted and converted into a roasted-smelling fuel. Well, cars don’t run on coffee yet, but there is a place in Greater Cincinnati that exemplifies a kinship between cars and coffee. Fuel (2726 Riverside…
Sony Gets Hip, Green Day FAIL and Aerosmith Scratch-Offs
[HOT] AT LEAST SOMEBODY KINDA GETS IT During a recent interview, Sony CEO Howard Stringer made some comments that suggested maybe some in the corporate music world might just be ready to enter the 21st century. The music industry has become a bit of a joke for its out-of-touch reaction to technological developments, and it…
What I Learned in Sarasota
Sometimes it’s good to go away to get a little perspective. Two weeks ago, I attended the annual conference of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA). We gathered in Sarasota, Fla., a city that was new to me. I’ll go back another time for theater in particular and arts and culture in general. A dark…
Detective Bureau 2-3: Go To Hell Bastards! (Kino)
Japanese filmmaker Seijun Suzuki opens his 1963 yakuza actioner with a literal bang as sharply dressed gangsters battle on a dark backcountry road in the Tokyo outskirts. Bullets fly. Autos careen off the road. Bodies pile up. A glorious screen-engulfing car explosion ends this out-of-control melee but kick-starts a dirty Rock & Roll number. Over…
The Art of Gleaning
People throw away lots of perfectly good things every day. But there are other people who believe that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” and they’re always on the lookout for usable items consigned to the garbage heap. The junk man who drives though neighborhoods on garbage night is often looking for metal to…
Learning from Ant Hills
Lunch in Cincinnati, lunch in Costa Rica — is there a difference? Beyond the view, a significant difference is that you’ll leave less trash behind when noshing in a rural area in the Central America country. Bethany Blevins learned that lesson last year. “In the rural areas … everywhere we went they had recycling bins…
Manny’s Steriods Bust Is Great for Baseball and Better for Fans
Another steroid bomb fell on baseball last week when the commissioner’s drug police caught Manny Ramirez using the female fertility drug human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG. The bomb consisted not in the revelation but in the lingering capacity of baseball fans to be stunned that news of this sort should hit the street. There’s bad…
Arts: Change or Die
Bigger is not necessarily better, and cooperation might ace competition among arts organizations in our changing culture, according to Diane E. Ragsdale of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, who spoke to an audience of art professionals and supporters at the University of Cincinnati May 6. “Sharing Our Art in a Changing Community,” presented by UC’s…
On the Right Track
Streetcars could be rolling along downtown streets in Cincinnati in just a few years. After years of proposals and studies, city officials are lining up financing for the first phase. The plan calls for modern streetcars running on tracks with quiet electric motors that get their power from overhead wires. The proposed route would run…
A Park Grows at Fernald
I had an outside chance of wandering into a two-headed deer-cow hybrid that could fly. But I ventured onto the Fernald Preserve anyway. When I was growing up out in northwest Hamilton County, Fernald was like our own private Area 51 far away from Roswell, N.M. We’d poke around the outskirts of the Department of…
Angels & Demons (Review)
Dan Brown gets a bad rap for his unique brand of beach-reading literature, but maybe he just should have been born 60 years earlier. If his work was going to be turned into cinema, it really should have been for 1930s serials. Just think about it: Both The Da Vinci Code and its published prequel/filmed…
I Am Ghost with The Birthday Massacre
Since forming five years ago in Long Beach, Calif., I Am Ghost has been the epicenter of more drama than 10 seasons of All My Children. The sextet coalesced in 2004 around a conceptual blend of Death Metal grind, Punk passion, Prog majesty and Classical complexity. IAG recorded a demo to get bookings, but wound…
Purple No. 7 (Profile)
Once upon a time … nah, don’t worry. This isn’t one of those stories. This isn’t a fairy tale and it isn’t going to be written as one. You can interpret tragedy in a number of different ways. You can see lessons and morals and realize everything could be one or the other. But Purple…
Don’t Waste Your Waste
A large percentage of material currently occupying landfills could have been recycled if only given the chance. We can all help by using city- and county-sponsored recycling programs and by recycling through independent facilities. More than 60 percent of the material occupying landfills could have been recycled, says Amanda Pratt, corporate communication manager of Rumpke…
A Flu by Any Other Name Wouldn’t Be As Interesting to the Media
Let’s call it Flying Pig Flu to honor the birds and hogs that contributed genetic material to the new influenza. Why not? For the news media, finding the right name was the larger crisis. Flying Pig Flu is more politically correct than the Israeli decision to call it “Mexican” flu because observant Jews and Muslims…
Local Label Pumps Out 45s
Cincinnati-based indie label Phratry Records has a roster of artists that capture that raw, underground vibe of late ’80s/early ’90s Punk and Post Punk (Knife the Symphony, Mad Anthony, Covington, etc.). The label also has a soft spot for the formats popular then, namely vinyl. Having already released vinyl versions of a few of their…
Local CD Review: S.R. Woodward’s ‘Vertical Integration’
Local singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist S.R. Woodward is not your average clean-cut, guitar-strumming, doe-eyed heartthrob. No, this guy is far too weird for that racket. Combining slightly-flat-yet-charming harmonies sung in a baritone warble with peppy, synthesized musical backing tracks, he’s a troubadour of minimalist ditties that lie somewhere between cheeky and heartfelt. —- His MySpace page cites influences…
