When and how to trust sources
Over the months, I've touched on the problem of documents and sources and how far to trust them. The subject was suggested by the jailed conman who recently persuaded the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times that he was providing FBI documents that implicated rappers in a violent assault on a competitor. thesmokinggun.com spotted the…
Sound Advice: : Ours and North Mississippi Allstars
North Mississippi Allstars Ours with Filter and Opiate for the Masses Saturday
Local CD Release Weekend
Local rockers Banderas release their new CD Friday at the Mad Hatter. Three excellent, locally conceived albums are getting the CD release show treatment this weekend. Below are some details, but for full-length reviews head to the Spill It blog at blogs.citybeat.com/spill_it/.
Music: Beyond the Usual Reference Point
Anti Records DeVotchKa's work on the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack kicked off a string of acclaim that continues with the band's most recent album, A Mad and Faithful Telling This year's Coachella Festival in Indio, Calif., was probably fucking fantastic. There were approximately 34 bands I wanted to see on the lineup, including Portishead,…
Trust Your Taste
A recent New York Times wine column reported on several studies that attempt to identify how a wine's price affects consumer perception. Apparently, "average" consumers tend to like a wine better if they think it costs more, while in totally blind tastings (where even cost is hidden) they seem to prefer "cheaper" wines over more…
Cover Story: Going With the Gut
Karen Brasier's sculptural work "Blue Pendant" will be featured in Visual Fringe. Visual Fringe is revving up for an improved and exciting 2008 after what organizers acknowledge was an off year. The hope is that this year will develop a visual arts audience for the Cincy Fringe Festival. While there's always been a Visual…
School’s Out, Education’s In
Another school year is ending for local kids, and with it come mixed emotions. Milestones are passed and achievements made, the Class of '08 graduates and others move to middle school or high school. At my daughter's elementary school, they're packing up and getting ready for a brand new building next fall. Elsewhere, trouble lingers,…
How’s This for a Campaign Issue: Blogs for Everyone!
A friend of mine, a Democrat who believes "free trade" has been a giveaway of American jobs with little to nothing in return, scoffs at those who say the solution is to retrain all those who have lost their blue-collar livelihoods to cheaper, overseas sources. "What are we going to do," he says. "Give them…
Opening an Ugly Can of Worms
Almost 13,000 Republican voters in Hamilton County switched their party affiliation in Ohio's March primary so they could vote in the Democratic presidential race, and the forms they submitted to do so leave little doubt about many of their intentions. The statements hand-written on many forms indicate a sizeable portion were following the advice of…
Griffey’s Tenure With Reds Mostly a Game of ‘What If?’
Jerry Dowling If we had the chance to do it all again, would we? Could we? We paraphrase a cheesy old lyric from Barbara Streisand's 1973 hit "The Way We Were." It's not exactly the right keynote for a discussion about Ken Griffey Jr., which might be entitled "The Way We Weren't." But it's…
Throwing Trash, Making a Living
A man who lives along Boudinot Avenue in Westwood fills a 30-gallon plastic garbage can about halfway each week with raw dog turds and puts it out on the curb to be picked up by a city garbage collector. How do I know? Because I was the unlucky one who picked it up this…
Josh Eagle (Profile)
Thomas Smith Josh Eagle Like pale birds, we perch and step lightly, crossing a tricky, long drop zone, our feet balancing on a thin railing. "Don't look down," Josh Eagle suggests. I look anyway. Shouldn't have. Long-limbed Eagle easily climbs to the roof. Turning around, he offers me a hand, pulling me up. For a…
Books: A World Away
Raven Bull Basil Balian, author of Once Upon a Time in Iraq The Iraq that lives in Basil Balian's memory is nothing like the one we see on the evening news. It is a place where, within the constrictions of society's rules, a boy growing up is both safe and free and where his…
Another seven days of offensive metaphors, advice for Arabs and scary $5 bills
J.D. Cutter Not blind friendly? WEDNESDAY MAY 14 House Republicans' latest attempt to appear vague but full of care for Americans is the releasing of their 2008 campaign slogans: "Change You Deserve" and "American Families Agenda." A New York Times blog reported the slogans today and then promptly pointed out that the first one…
Cover Story: Unusual Visions
Local filmmakers like Kendall Bruns are front and center in Film Fringe. Just about anyone can make a "film" these days. Digital cameras, computer-based editing, enhanced sound equipment, reduced costs and other less obvious factors have resulted in a landslide of filmmakers working in every imaginable genre, topic and style. Even a cursory glance…
The Willow Tree (New Yorker Video)
The Willow Tree 2005, Unrated Iranian director Majid Majidi creates a powerful and somber parable about sight and blindness with his stunning The Willow Tree. The tale succinctly follows the events that befall a middle-aged university professor named Yussef (Parviz Parastui), blind since a childhood accident with fireworks. Superficially, his condition is no hindrance.…
Music: Let There Be Voice
Burrill Strong Jason Dennie In the late '90s, on quiet, lone evenings, I often played Jason Dennie's solo acoustic instrumental record, Living on Melody Lane. I was between lives. Finished with school, back from a wild cross-country road trip, I dressed like a hippie and often slept in a tent in the backyard. Uh,…
Square Pegs: The Complete Series (Sony)
Square Pegs: The Complete Series 1982, Not Rated Shortly after starring in Annie on Broadway, former Cincinnati resident Sarah Jessica Parker was cast as the co-lead in this CBS sitcom. The show centered on inelegant classmates Lauren Hutchinson (Amy Linker) and Patty Greene (Parker). The girls were determined to "click with the right clique"…
Grandma’s Second Chance As a Hail Mary Trucker
There are plenty of times I miss running a legitimate ministry organization like Mission Year, a nationwide urban ministry I founded. Like when I'm breaking down my "office" every night so my family can eat at the kitchen table or hand-addressing the envelopes for our donation receipts. (Don't get me wrong: I love having to…
News: Building a Compromise
Cincinnati officials have reached a tentative compromise about what to do with a long-vacant downtown building after butting heads earlier this spring with a developer and disagreeing about how much the prime piece of real estate is worth. At the urging of Mayor Mark Mallory, negotiations were held during the past few weeks that involved…
Taste of Cincinnati, New Orleans benefit concert, Jersey Boys, CAC opening, Robbie Knievel and much more
Chris Bennion Jersey Boys WEDNESDAY 5/21 ONSTAGE: JERSEY BOYS Oh, what a night! Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were all the rage way back when (it was 1962, if you really must know). And they might have remained a 1960s blip on your oldies radio station if it hadn't been for the 2006…
Music: Beauty from the Beast
Wind Up Records Seether There might not be any band that was happier to see 2006 end and a new year begin than Seether. "(That) year was a pretty tumultuous year for all of us personally, and as a band," drummer John Humphrey says. The troubles included the much-publicized stint in rehab for singer/guitarist…
This Week in Wellness
Celebrate Bike Month with a group ride from Northside to Findlay Market. The route is mostly flat and of moderate difficulty. Bring a helmet and bag for shopping at Findlay Market. Free. 9 a.m.-noon Saturday. Departs from Hoffner Park in Northside. www.queencitybike.com. Send your mind, body and spirit events to snovotni@citybeat.com.
State Of Play (BBC Video)
State Of Play 2003, Not Rated This tense, outstandingly acted 2003 BBC miniseries — a political thriller that gets further inside the tough, neurotic, unsentimental world of hard-charging, scoop-chasing newspaper journalism than anything since All the President's Men — is presented in entirety in this two-disc set. The complex, multi-layered story, written by Paul…
Film: Review: Son of Rambow
(Photo courtesy Paramount Vantage) Bill Milner (left) and Will Poulter in Son of Rambow British writer/director Garth Jennings is a child of 1980s multiplex cinema, as the presence of his new film, Son of Rambow, overtly attests. And like many young directors working today, Jennings was raised on
Cover Story: Ready, Set, Fringe
Jason Sheldon Charlie Clark performs in two Cincy Fringe Festival productions, including his own one-man show. See also Visual Fringe Preview See also Film Fringe Preview Perhaps it's the nature of "fringe theater" that, as the Cincy Fringe Festival is about to launch its fifth annual celebration (May 27-June 7), there are still a…
News: A Path Through the Weeds
Emily Maxwell Oyler Elementary School is an oasis (in more ways than one) in its tough Lower Price Hill neighborhood. As he leads the way down the alley, Craig Hockenberry explains in a quiet voice that the place we're going is where he frequently finds kids hiding after the bus or a parent drops…
Art: Review: Carl Solway Gallery Shows
Chris Gomien Katy Stone's "White Falls (Serpentine)" On a recent Friday evening, the guests at Carl Solway Gallery turned their eyes from the art on the walls to watch the artist, Christopher Tanner, dressed in drag with a blonde wig and full-length black sequin number, as he regaled them with Depression-era songs by lyricist…
Be More Responsible With Your Satire
Danny Cross attributed a quote to me which was completely made up ("Worst Week Ever," issue of May 14). In quotes, he printed "as any God fearing heterosexual would" as a statement made by me in describing Sheriff Simon Leis' dancing. I did not make that statement, and it makes me look like an idiot…
Film: Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
(L-R) Shia LaBeouf, Harrison Ford and Karen Allen in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Maybe some relics shouldn't be dug up. That was certainly the lesson in the earlier movies in the Indiana Jones series. And it's the lesson for the creators of the latest one, Indiana Jones and the…
The Problem I Have With Henry
I hang out a lot at Madonna's Bar and Grill downtown. Talking to regular customer Tony, trying to get inside my friend Izzy's head and giving bartender Laura a hard time are my idea of a good time. Listening to a con artist isn't my idea of a good time. When I now see this…
BlackFinn (Review)
Joe Lamb BlackFinn Meat. Sports. Patriotism. Ball caps. If you like these — that is, if you're American — you'll love BlackFinn. If you don't, well, if you at least like people then you'll love the staff. Formerly Nick & Tony's and McFadden's, BlackFinn Restaurant & Saloon, one of a chain of Irish-inspired American…
