Questions Swirl Around Resignation Papers for Police Chief; City Makes Deal for Wasson Way Bike Trail Land
Questions Swirl Around Resignation Papers for Police Chief The city of Cincinnati recently drew up resignation documents for Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell, according to a May 29 report by the Cincinnati Business Courier. That revelation has led to speculation over whether Blackwell was on the verge of being dismissed from his position, though city…
Boxed In
On June 1, the state of Ohio stopped asking job seekers on applications whether they have been convicted of a crime, and a proposed measure would remove questions about criminal history from all public job applications across the state. Both are steps in the right direction, ex-offenders and advocates say, but more could be done…
Morning News and Stuff
Morning Cincinnati. The sun has apparently caught whatever terrible cold I had last week and is off sick for a couple days. It feels like October outside, which would be cool if we got Halloween and colorful leaves. But actually we just get coldness which isn’t that great. Anyway, news time. More city-police chief news…
Review: Marina and the Diamonds at Bogart’s
There were diamonds everywhere at Bogart’s this past Friday (May 29), about 1,500 of them. Marina and the Diamonds is not a band, but the artistic umbrella for Welsh singer/songwriter Marina Diamandis. She says she created the solo-guise “band” moniker because she didn’t want to be seen as a solo Pop star, and wanted to…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey y’all. Oh boy, did some news happen since last time we talked. First, as I told you about on Friday, the city has finalized a deal to purchase right of way along the Wasson Way rail line from Norfolk Southern. If council approves the deal, the city will pay $11. 75 million for the…
The Pop In
I’m going to change her name and call her Meg in this story. I don’t think she knows I’m a writer, but better safe than sorry. Meg lives in my apartment building here in Covington, and she’s a nice, older lady who is always friendly to me, and I’m always friendly right back. Sometimes I…
Zombie-Logue (Critic’s Pick)
Critic's Pick Most people probably walk into Zombie-Logue expecting something different than what Hugo Theatrical West actually presents: a show about a zombie kvetching about zombie life? That sounds funny. And from this company — the same folks who produced the Don’t Cross the Streams in 2012 and Hot Damn! It’s the Loveland Frog in…
You Seem Pretty Great
Mike Fotis, a monologist from Minneapolis, puts on a show that’s about as minimal as it can be. He introduces himself by saying, “I sit at a table and tell stories.” In fact, he sits at a table and reads stories that he has written. He’s an expressive reader and a sharply sardonic writer, so what he…
We Gotta Cheer Up Gary (Critic’s Pick)
Do you have a friend you think is hilarious and literally anything they do makes you laugh? These are the best people to be around. Every silence, every gesture, every word is preloaded with funny. That’s the friend that Four Humors (from Minneapolis) is to Cincy Fringe audiences. We Gotta Cheer Up Gary is the eighth consecutive…
Too Tall for Trailers (Critic’s Pick)
The troubadour of quirky America, Paul Strickland, has returned to the Cincinnati Fringe, and this year the show he has written is a little different. As the author/performer of previous Fringe hits Ain’t True and Uncle False and Papa Squat’s Store of Sorts, he has brought along a new friend to the trailer homes of the Big Fib…
Down Among the Vultures
Down Among the Vultures opens with a 10-minute monologue delivered by Waylon Simms (Andrew Hamling), a lowlife who supposedly owns a multi-million dollar cat litter company. Waylon is hooked up to an IV, swills a beer and pops a parade of pills as he rambles and rants incoherently in front of a large bird in a…
Succession
Succession, a mesmerizing solo dance work representing a life-cycle journey, is Valerie Green’s first appearance at the Cincinnati Fringe. Pay attention: She’s a welcome addition. Green, who has established her own company and a home studio in Queens, has choreographed and danced in the New York region for 19 years, as well as performing and…
Squares
The most unusual fringe venue for this year’s festival belongs to Squares, the latest entry from dog & pony dc from Washington, D.C. The show is performed outside in the School for Creative and Performing Arts at the south end of Over-the-Rhine’s Washington Park. (If you attend, you should enter from Race Street between Twelfth Street and…
Pangea (FringeNext)
Remember when Kanye West performed at Saturday Night Live’s 40th anniversary special? Every other guest that night was stoic and respectful, harkening back to the past in a greatest-hits parade. Kanye, however, was there to make art, for better or worse. Well, the young performers of Third Eye Warriors are here to make art, and Pangea is their…
Occupational Pleasures
Here’s the premise for Occupational Pleasures, presented by Cincinnati’s Homegrown Theater: Dan and Louise (played by Dylan Shelton and Lauren Showen) work in the same office and are having an affair. They believe their romance remains a secret until they find copies of fan fiction-style stories that have been written about them, each from a coworker…
Mouthy Bitch (Critic’s Pick)
CRITIC’S PICK In this one-woman play by Dennis Bush we meet Kate Carden, a self-styled expert on male/female relationships. Skillfully portrayed by Cincinnati Playhouse acting intern Kelsey Torstveit, Kate is as confident as she is profane, pronouncing truisms about sexual dynamics as illustrated by one outrageous personal anecdote after another. Yet by the end of…
Hunting Monsters (Cappies Review)
Written, performed, produced and directed entirely by a company of local teens (NextUp Productions) Hunting Monsters deals with grave issues surrounding a futuristic, dystopian civil war. Set in the near future, the play centers on a bloody conflict between “patriots” who hold conservative political ideals and “rebels” who hold liberal ideologies that hinge upon an expanded welfare…
Hunting Monsters (FringeNext)
It’s been a while since I’ve been to the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Over-the-Rhine, so I was pleasantly surprised by the outstanding theatrical facilities. A very sizable crowd saw this FringeNext production, a play about domestic war in America and how it affects the morality of a typical cross-section of citizens. There…
The Famous Haydell Sisters Comeback Tour (Critic’s Pick)
Critic’s Pick The “famous” Haydell Sisters have brought their long-awaited 20-year reunion tour from Portland, Oregon, to Cincinnati. And the good news is that this hour-long pseudo-Country Music concert is hilarious from start to finish. Apparently, Mattie Haydell (the older “mannish” one according to her bio) and Maybelle Haydell (the younger “cute” one) had a…
Dog Show
Animal Engine (New York City), a past winner of the Cincinnati Fringe Artist’s Award, lets its latest production, Dog Show, off the leash at the Know Theatre. The comedy onstage for this show is fizzy, broad, fast, cheap and unchallenging. I expect many will love it. The three company members (Becca Bernard, Carrie Brown and Karim…
dungeon
The Fringe show dungeon is coy in its advertising. Short at only 45 minutes, its content is accessible to everyone. There were three kids in the front row for opening night, although they might have come away shell-shocked. Put on by Hit the Lights, Dad Theater Co., an “artistic agreement” from New York City participating in the…
My Twisted Face
What would happen if feminist theory rubbed up against Greek myth? That’s the imaginatively staged premise InBocca Performance director Caroline Stine has conjured up in My Twisted Face. This thought-provoking, mostly theatrical, shortish (about 45 minutes) work features a cast of four young women (Ashley Morton, Katelyn Altieri, Kellyn Dolezal and Carrington Rowe). They take on…
Stage Door: Fringing, a Free Performance and More Good Choices
Cincy Fringe is hot and heavy right now. If you’re planning to attend and want to get the scoop on some shows you might enjoy over the weekend, head to the CityBeat's Fringe hub, where reviews are being posted by a team of writers that I’m managing. We go to see the opening performance of…
Foreign Film Friday: The House Is Black (1962)
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Your Weekend To Do List (5/29-5/31)
Summerfair, NKY Pride 2015!, used book sales, the Fringe Festival, lots of concerts, craft beer parties and more. FRIDAY Get weird with the CINCINNATI FRINGE FESTIVAL The Cincinnati Fringe Festival — running through June 6 — is celebrating 13 years of theater, creativity and fun. A total of 40 shows (selected by 24 jurors) will be presented during the…
Weekenders: What We’re Doing This Weekend
Each week CityBeat staffers share their weekend plans: from dinner and drinks or special events to out-of-town concerts and stories we're working on. And some of us just watch TV. Jesse Fox: This weekend I am shooting my first weekend of many summer music festivals. I will be traveling with former CityBeat intern, Catie Viox, to Nelsonville…
Validate Me
The Art Academy Auditorium is not a particularly friendly space for theater, especially if the show requires audio-visual tech. New York City artist Carly Ann Filbin’s Validate Me suffered from disjointed audio tracks and distracting out-of-sync screen prompts. But more basic than that, the script was simply too narrow to pull the audience into Carly’s…
Shelter
Nightmares are alive in the day as well as the night in this attention-compelling collaboration between two Cincinnati groups, the dance company Pones, Inc., and the theater company Queen City Flash. They are natural collaborators, both dedicated to expanding how people experience theater and dance. All this works well with playwright Trey Tatum’s script. He…
Prefer Not To Say (Critic’s Pick)
Critic's Pick The performers of Thought Plane Theatre are returning participants after winning the Cincy Fringe Founder’s Pick in 2013. They have a background in dealing with what’s known as magical realism, and Prefer Not To Say is what they call research-through-performance. That sums up their “happenings” very well, as their staged mini-shows create informal…
Kiss Around Pass Around (Critic’s Pick)
Critic's Pick Are you human? Are you kind? Are you smart? These are the kinds of questions you will need to consider when you take in the utterly delightful Kiss Around Pass Around. Created and performed by Tokyo actress and Fringe circuit favorite, Yanomi, Kiss Around instantly draws you into the magical world of this…
The Hunger Artist
The Glorious Bomb Squad (Chicago) has dropped a slow detonating revision of Franz Kafka’s short story, The Hunger Artist, on this year’s Cincinnati Fringe. The bare bones of Kafka’s narrative are there, following a starvation artist’s declining fortune as a primary public attraction to his latter days as a sideshow act in a traveling circus.…
Hitchhikers May Be Inmates
Interventions can take place anywhere. In the case of Hitchhikers May Be Inmates, one starts in a diner with J.D. (Kevin Crowley, also the playwright) waiting patiently for David (Michael Bath) to stop crying. J.D. is the sponsor, you see, but he’s not very conventional in his approach. That’s the setup for this clever, well-acted…
Fixate
What if one of the saddest, shabbiest, solitary moments of your life were suddenly shattered by a noisy stranger appearing in your apartment out of thin air? So begins Unity Productions’ two-hander Fixate, which thrusts together obsessive-compulsive Wesley (Rex Martinez) with opinionated everywoman April (Sara Mackie). After being dumped by his girlfriend, Wesley has fallen…
Escape Routes (FringeNext)
Escape Routes is this year’s FringeNext entry written, directed, acted and produced by the talented students of Highlands High School. The plot centers around nerdy bookworm Clark who gets paired up with nonconformist slacker Johnny for an important high school philosophy class project. Getting an A on the project is crucial for Clark so that…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all! News time. First, a couple Cincinnati City Council things. Council yesterday voted to apply for up to $33 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grants for the proposed Elmore Street Connector project. The bridge, which would connect Cincinnati State to the West Side after the current I-74 exit there is…
Edgar Allan (Critic’s Pick)
Critic's Pick One of the pleasures of a Fringe Festival is being able to see interesting and original theatre that is so non-commercial that it otherwise might never see the light of day. Such a pleasure is Edgar Allan, a wildly creative play presented by The Coldharts and its founders, Katie Hartman and Nick Ryan…
Cody Clark: A Different Way of Thinking
Dan Aykroyd, actress Daryl Hannah and British singing sensation Susan Boyle are among the most recognizable in a list of performers who have harnessed autism spectrum disorders to serve their artistic passions. Add to that roster Louisville-based actor and magician Cody Clark, whose eponymous piece A Different Way of Thinking takes his audience on a…
Moonlight After Midnight (Critic’s Pick)
Critic's Pick Patsy Cline is the muse for Martin Dockery’s excellent script, Moonlight After Midnight. The playwright and Vanessa Quesnelle perform this two-hander at 17 E. Court St., a block south of Central Parkway, a vacant store space used as a 2015 Fringe venue. It’s kind of a bleak space, black tormentor side flats and…
In the Midst, the Middle, the Muddle, in Amongst
According to her program note, Nicole A. Hershey’s motivation to choreograph, write and perform her solo show was the opportunity to share her uplifting story about depression and recovery. And share she does. On a bare stage, Hershey, dressed simply in a stretchy grey camisole and calf-length black tights, with long brown hair tied back…
Heard
It’s hard to discuss Linnea Bond’s play Heard without including spoilers, which would surely diminish the experience for other audiences in the Fringe; yet there’s still a lot to talk about without revealing too much. As the story begins we meet Esther (excellently portrayed by Kaleigh-Brooke Dillingham), get a glimpse of her religious, judgmental mother and see…
Boxed Up
This show comes from Ensemble of Stitches, a group of students from the School for Creative and Performing Arts led by Mallory Kraus. Kraus serves as the writer and director of this show. She’s a promising young playwright with lots of great ideas. FringeNext, in its fifth year as a component for the Fringe, invites…
!ke e: /xarra //ke: A New African Folk Tale
!ke e: /xarra //ke: A New African Folk Tale is a 45 minute work-in-progress (as specified in its Fringe description), devised and performed by the husband and wife team of Melonie and Sifiso Mazibuko. Both are South African expats and theater makers who have created Mazibuko Productions to foster discourse around discord. Sifiso is black; Melonie…
{?}
Produced by Cincinnati’s Tangled Leaves Theatre Collective, the production of {?} takes place at another first-time Fringe space, Nast Community Church on Race Street east of Washington Park. Jane Doe (Serenity Fisher) has lost her memory and is in a hospital working with a smart doctor (Allison Bishop) who tries to help her find herself again —…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning Cincy. Here’s your news today. While we’ve all heard the good news that is going down in Cincinnati, there’s one big exception. Some recent serious but mostly non-fatal shootings in Walnut Hills, CUF, West End and other neighborhoods (including a few right outside my house in Mount Auburn) have put gun crimes in…
Shirtzencockle
Fairytales and myths aren’t really the default mode of storytelling for us moderns. That’s unfortunate, since they continue to carry a mystical dynamic that resonates regardless of age or era. For its 2015 entry, Performance Gallery (that group has appeared in 13 of 13 Fringes) weaves its own Hans Christian meets Wes Anderson-styled fable with…
Radio Gomorrah LIVE!
The future is on our minds a lot these days. The way fiction anticipates is really about today, and by default usually falls into the science fiction genre. Science fiction, more so than any other form of storytelling, is rife with thematic and metaphorical potential. Radio Gomorrah LIVE!, a new show by the Burying Beetles,…
METH: a love story (Critic’s Pick)
Critic's Pick The description starts out, “After a night of partying, two college students wake up in a meth den.” That teaser alone is likely to draw in a crowd; if not, the word of mouth about the exceptional acting, professional-level writing, and polished production ought to. It’s 45 minutes of exceptional storytelling. Written and…
Jesus, Do You Like Me?
Actress Eileen Tull from Chicago apprehensively enters the stage, her voice shaking a bit. Her note cards fall to the floor. She begins to wing it, improvising. A good Catholic, she repeatedly apologizes to the audience for not being prepared. Tull runs off and on the stage several times setting up the scene with props.…
CODA (Children of Deaf Adults)
“I just call it normal.” Thus begins writer/performer Mark Murray in this solo show as he describes the pitfalls and angst of being a hearing child growing up with parents who are both deaf. As a young boy he thinks all kids have deaf parents. But as he grows older he realizes he is the…
Chemistry
At one moment in Jacob Marx Rice’s play, a young woman tells the audience that mental illness is the only disease where the sufferer is criticized, as if contracting it reveals a character flaw. Later in the play, in the depths of depression, she rhetorically asks whether her boyfriend would give up everything — his…
Cathedral City
Cathedral City is a spare one-man show by the likeable Kurt Fitzpatrick. Fringe veterans might remember him from Bromance, performed at the 2014 Fringe line-up announcement party with Tommy Nugent (aka Reverend Nuge). With no props or set except a single chair, Fitzpatrick maps out a trippy personal narrative that centers around a recent time…
Cincinnati Fringe Festival 2015
The 13th annual Cincinnati Fringe is under way. Shows — split almost exactly between those generated by local creators and productions from elsewhere in the U.S., plus four international acts representing South Africa, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom — continue through June 6. CityBeat writers will attend the opening performance of every production and provide next-day…
Music: Shilpa Ray
Having seen Shilpa Ray play in the early morning hours after a fierce, chilling rainstorm at the outdoor Nelsonville Music Festival in East Central Ohio, this writer can testify that her tough and exciting voice can surmount any distraction around her and kick-start listeners out of any weariness and make them pay attention. Her new…
Music: Butch Walker
No one can accuse Butch Walker of not living up to his potential. For the past three decades, Walker has blazed a unique trail as a member of renowned bands, a critically acclaimed solo artist, a highly regarded producer and a prolific songwriter whose compositions for some of the industry’s biggest names have hit the…
This Week’s Dining Events
This week's dining events, cooking classes and more for the culinary enthusiast. WEDNESDAY 27 Sunset Salons: Bourbon — Head to the Clifton Cultural Arts Center for barrel-aged wisdom from New Riff distilling’s Jay Erisman, The Littlefield’s John Ford and Molly Wellman. Includes samples. 6:30-9 p.m. $15; $20 door. 3711 Clifton Ave., Clifton, cliftonculturalarts.org. Dinner &…
Music: Ralph Stanley
Ralph and his brother Carter made American Roots music history in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s as The Stanley Brothers. Cincinnati will forever be a part of The Stanley Brothers’ history, as the siblings recorded some of their most important albums in the Queen City for King Records (2003’s expansive compilation The King Years 1961-1965…
Music: Marina and the Diamonds
It’s oddly wonderful how sometimes two songwriters will interpret the same concept in diametrically opposed fashions. For example, consider Pharrell Williams and Marina Diamandis, both of whom have very powerful songs called “Happy.” Of course, Williams’ composition is the musical manifestation of exuberance and joy, a bouncy sing-along that almost dares you to remain passive…
Considering Bias
Bias — choosing sides in how something is reported — can be overt or subtle. More often, the appearance of bias is the issue. To most people, it’s a distinction without a difference. Think of Fox News. When viewers agree with Fox reporters, anchors or talking heads, you rarely hear them complain of “bias.” More…
Queer City Spotlight: Judith Iscariot on Cincinnati’s Drag Scene
After almost seven successful seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, drag has been infused into mainstream popular culture more than ever before. Drag, once thought taboo by many, is now becoming widely accepted as an art form. The show produces an ensemble of drag queens, each with their own fan base, that go out and tour…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning all. Here’s the news today. Streetcar advocates are forming a new nonprofit to help raise funds, encourage ridership and help sell advertising on the downtown and Over-the-Rhine transit project. The group will be called Cincinnati Street Railway, a nod to the city’s original streetcar transit authority. CSR will be a “non-political” and “fun”…
Free Downtown, Over-the-Rhine Music Series Heat Up
Although summertime doesn’t officially begin until June 21, the popular free music series at downtown’s Fountain Square and Over-the-Rhine’s Washington Park are officially in full swing starting this week. The concerts once again showcase a great mix of bigger-name touring acts and superb locals from a variety of genres. On Fountain Square, Reggae Wednesdays begin this…
‘Prime’ Time
Guitarist Brad Myers could benefit from shaving down his to-do list. So far in 2015, the multi-faceted guitarist has concluded his graduate studies in Jazz at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, planned and executed a big reunion show for local favorites Ray’s Music Exchange, recorded two last sessions for his solo debut, Prime…
Revolution Rotisserie (Review)
Revolution Rotisserie & Bar started as a small operation selling rotisserie chicken on grilled pita bread at a stand in Findlay Market. It can now be found at its full-service permanent location on Race Street, just a block south of Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine. The brick-and-mortar Revolution still specializes in hormone-free, preservative-free roasted Amish chicken,…
Women of ‘HACF’ Form Mutiny in Season Two
With Joe and Gordon commanding much of the first season of ’80s tech drama Halt and Catch Fire (Season Premiere, 10 p.m. Sunday, AMC) — which ended quite disastrously for the characters — it only makes sense that this season focuses more on Cameron and Donna. Besides infiltrating the boy’s club of the early tech…
The Remake Guidelines
Recently I caught myself having an out-of-body experience. In the midst of a heated discussion about a new release — Gil Kenan’s completely unnecessary Poltergeist — I blurted out that Hollywood should stop producing remakes. The words spilled out of me so quickly, yet there I was in that exact same moment listening and fully…
Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War On Drugs
In this groundbreaking and controversial manifesto, we join Johann Hari on his three-year investigation — a kind of “trail of tears” that traverses nine countries, covers 30,000 miles and tracks the lives of countless individuals whose lives have been caught up in the maelstrom of the so-called “Drug War.” It’s a journey beyond the daily…
Crow Fair
The slyly ironic, superbly crafted and often hysterical 17 short stories that comprise Crow Fair prove Thomas McGuane is America’s preeminent chronicler of “Big Sky” country and the “new American West.” Born in Michigan before moving to Montana, McGuane weaves complex yarns that reflect his love of nature, incredulousness at human hubris and brilliant mastery…
Modern Makers
The Camp Washington-based furniture maker/interior design team of Hayes Shanesy and Rosie Kovacs, known collectively as Brush Factory, recently finished a year-long, three-floor build out for People’s Liberty, a new philanthropic lab from the Haile/U.S. Bank and Johnson foundations, across from Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine. The project is the first of its kind for Brush…
Cincinnati Fringe: Community, Camaraderie and Passion
The 13th annual Cincinnati Fringe is under way. Shows start Wednesday and continue through June 6. CityBeat writers will attend the opening performance of every production and provide next-day reviews to help you pick and choose shows to see. With 40 or so productions in 2015, that’s a big task, so I offer a big…
Social Improvement by Design
On May 18, in a room equipped with only whiteboards, tables and chairs, branding and innovation consultant Cindy Tripp explains the process she implemented at Procter & Gamble for seven years: design thinking. Typically she speaks to research or marketing firms, but today, it’s mostly nonprofits. “It doesn’t matter if you’re working for a for-profit…
Media Musings From Cincinnati and Beyond
Not yet open, Clifton Market has made its first sale: the news media. I hope that reporters’ boosterism won’t keep them from doing due diligence on the finances for the proposed grocery. Neither Cincinnati City Council nor this mayor’s administration can be trusted to do this before deciding whether to give taxpayer money to the…
Stop Making Sense
Modern civil rights acts of civil disobedience have run off the rails and become something beyond counterintuitive; it’s become far-reaching, obtuse and even ironic. Take, for example, the May 21 press conference at the Great American Ball Park led by a group of respected ministers meant to steal some of the upcoming shine of the…
Residents Lose an Eye
HOT: Residents Lose an Eye After being on tour for the past few years as part of the “Spectacle: The Music Video” exhibit, one of the large eyeballs worn by members of the experimental band (and music video pioneers) The Residents has reportedly been stolen. The eye was returned to a representative for the band…
