Music Sensation Lizzo is Coming to Cincinnati Next Month for an Arena Show
When tickets to see music sensation Lizzo at Covington's Madison Theater this month went on sale in April, they sold out almost immediately. According to Madison Theater's Twitter account, that show has now been canceled so Lizzo can prepare for an appearance at the BET Awards on June 23. But fans who missed out the…
Cincinnati Music and Sustainable, Environmental-Friendly Agricultural Practices Collide at Sayler Park Festival
Founded in 2013, Sayler Park Sustains is a family-friendly music and education festival designed to bring people together in the name of environmental-friendly, self-sustained agricultural practices. Created as a way to show pride and care for the west side community and run by an all-volunteer staff of Sayler Park residents, the event annually features an…
The Hottest Car in the Queen City is For Sale Right Now For Only $950
Looking for a hot new whip this summer? This 2003 Honda Civic is just for you. Roll up in style to the upcoming showing of The Fast and the Furious at Washington Park's Summer Cinema Series July 24. According to the Facebook Marketplace listing, the vehicle runs well but does not have power steering and…
Bellevue Hosts Annual City-Wide Yard Sale This Week
Discover some new gems in the Northern Kentucky community of Bellevue at this Saturday’s city-wide yard sale on Fairfield Avenue and throughout the town. Afterward, spend the day exploring the many shops, eateries and bars — like The Elusive Cow or Darkness Brewing. The event is hosted by IN VUE, which is an accredited Kentucky…
Northern Kentucky Pride’s Decade of Celebration, Advocacy and Activism
"This year we are honoring all the folks that have done so much hard work before us," Bonnie Meyer, the co-chair of Northern Kentucky Pride, says of their upcoming festival and parade, which is in its 10th year. But — as Meyer points out — 2019 also marks the 20th anniversary of Fairness in Kentucky.…
Fringe 2019 Review: ‘The Vegetables’
When a loved one suddenly becomes ill and deteriorates into a vegetative state, there are a number of questions and emotions that arise as a result, leaving a lasting impact on all parties involved in the decision-making process. One voice that is often left out of the process is that of the person in the…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘Knifeslingin’
“Ninety-nine percent of all knifeslingin’ is balance…or maybe its 75 percent.” This wacky fact is part of the world of J. Merrill Motz’s comedy Knifeslingin’, a show appearing at this year’s Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Part comedy, part courtroom drama, Knifeslingin’ explores the world of media knifeslinger Ted “Critter” Montana, whose series of knifeslinging videos leads…
Cincinnati Historic Conservation Board Approves Demolition for OTR Kroger Location
When one grocery store opens, another closes — and likely gets turned into a parking lot. The Cincinnati Historic Conservation Board Monday ruled that the Kroger location at 1420 Vine Street in Over-the-Rhine can be demolished, making way for a surface parking lot and possible future development by the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC).…
Ohio House Bill Would Require Public School Science and Health Educators Discuss ‘Humanity of Unborn’
A bill in the Ohio House of Representatives would require public school science and health teachers to teach students about pregnancy, fetal development and abortion. Some parts of House Bill 90, introduced by Republican State Rep. Niraj Antani, have raised ire from critics, however. Specifically, they're upset about language that says students should be taught…
Heads Up, Mothertruckers: Sebastian Bach is Playing Skid Row’s Debut Album in Full This Fall in Harrison
In 1989, New Jersey rockers Skid Row released its self-titled debut album. Skid Row was a hit almost immediately, spawning the group's biggest hits, "18 and Life" and "I Remember You." The band's wild-eyed frontman Sebastian Bach — who introduced the word "mothertuckers" to the lexicon — is hitting the road this fall for an…
Live Music in Greater Cincinnati: This Week’s Concerts and Club Shows (June 5-June 11)
WEDNESDAY 05 BURNET WOODS BANDSTAND – Wednesdays in the Woods with Misterman and the Mojo Band. 7 p.m. Blues. Free. ARNOLD'S BAR AND GRILL – Todd Hepburn. 7 p.m. Piano/Various. Free. BLIND LEMON – Thom Stephenson. 8:30 p.m. Acoustic. Free. BLUE NOTE HARRISON – Caskey. 7 p.m. Rap. $17, $20 day of show. CAFFÈ VIVACE…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ‘Between 3 and 5’
A shot of Kentucky bourbon was offered to me almost immediately after walking into the Salem United Methodist Church for the inaugural performance of Pones Inc.’s Between 3 and 5. When I accepted this generous offer, I had no idea that I had already begun immersing myself into the quasi-interactive world that me and the…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘Stow Your Baggage’
The concept is fairly straightforward: first class seats are up front, coach seats are toward the back. The set is simple and sparse: a microphone; a chair; a metal bar cart housing several mini water bottles, some cups and cheap whisky in a plastic jug. But Alexx Rouse, the mind behind the production, is far…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ‘seXmas Cards’
Kate Mock Elliott opens her one-woman show with chipper Christmas letter. It’s full of those cherry-picked news items we’ve all read, anecdotes and reports about events and accomplishments of the past year. She’s washed in a warm red light and coyly poses in a Vanna White posture to extol the great things moments she and…
My Chemical Romance Guitarist Frank Iero Brings His Future Violents to Cincinnati
Frank Iero got his start playing guitar in Punk bands in his native New Jersey at a very young age. It was through that scene that he met the members of My Chemical Romance. It was a fruitful friendship — Iero joined the group in his early 20s while they were recording their debut album,…
Stephen Marley, a Member of Reggae Music’s Royal Family, Brings His Acoustic Jams Tour to Covington
Reggae legend Bob Marley has now been deceased for longer than he was alive, but his hyper-talented DNA continues to send ripples through the musical universe. A fair number of Marley’s 11 acknowledged children have followed their iconic father into the family business, with son David — better known as Ziggy —having perhaps the highest…
The 10th Annual NKY Pride Parade and Fest Takes Over Covington Sunday
The 10th-annual NKY Pride takes over Covington with a parade and festival. The parade leaves from Covington Landing at 1 p.m., winds around the neighborhood, stops in front of the judges’ table at Braxton Brewing Co., and ends in Goebel Park for the PrideFest party. PrideFest will feature live music, vendors, beer from Braxton and…
Cincinnati’s Summer Music Festivals Offer Something for Everyone
Adjust Your Eyes Music & Art Festival June 28-29 • Various Northside Venues Locally based independent label Grasshopper Juice Records has been presenting the Adjust Your Eyes Music & Art Festival since 2006. The fest has grown from being a single-location event to its current status as an all-neighborhood (Northside) showcase featuring multiple venues. Along…
‘The Uncanny Valley’ at Wave Pool Appropriates AI for the Everyday via Fabricators, Artists and Architects
The “uncanny valley” is a term used to describe the unsettling feeling you get when looking at a robot or computer-generated image that resembles a human so closely that it grosses you out or scares you just a little. Like those computer games where you can’t tell if it’s an actual human on the screen…
Nine Places to Get Your Summertime Hot Dog Fix in Cincinnati
Hot dogs are ubiquitous with summer. Whether they’re cooked on sticks over a campfire or grilled alongside burgers and corn on the cob, a plump and juicy frankfurter is just what the season ordered. While hot dogs are not always an ambitious food — you can aim real low with a dish that can be…
Fifty West Brewing Company Hosts a Goat Yoga Class
Yoga is good. Yoga — or should we say “yogoat” — surrounded by adorable hooved and horned critters is even better. If you’ve “goat” time on June 8, head out to Fifty West Production Works for a 45-minute Goat Yoga session — the first session at 11 a.m. is sold out but as of this…
Cincinnati Opera Presents Free Musical Excerpts During Opera in the Park at Washington Park
Celebrate the start of Cincinnati Opera’s 99th season with a little music in the park. Bring a blanket, lawn chair and your opera glasses to enjoy the Cincinnati Opera Chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as they perform selections from the 2019 season including The Marriage of Figaro, Ariadne auf Naxos, Romeo and Juliet and…
Comedian Raanan Hershberg Tells Jokes at Go Bananas Comedy Club
“My first paid gig was at a prison in Kentucky,” comedian Raanan Hershberg tells an audience. “It was for about 200 inmates.” It didn’t go as well as he hoped. “There’s nothing more discouraging as a comedian than to be performing and watching a couple inmates walk out. Where are you going? You know in…
Get Wavy at the Pineapple Day Dance and Brunch Party at Revel OTR
Millennials rejoice: This generation’s favorite tropical fruit (avocados out; pineapples in) is front and center at this breezy summer event. Aimed at “celebrating the waviness and free-spiritedness in all of us,” the party features DJs from diverse pop-up experience collective Meraki Haus inside and local entrepreneurs outside. Most importantly, there’s no dress code but pineapple…
Get a Taste of Burning Man at the Cincinnati Art Museum’s Beyond Black Rock Fundraiser
Fire up your summer at the Beyond Black Rock fundraiser on the first day of the second phase of No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Get a first look at new room-sized art installations, mutant vehicles, creative costuming, films and jewelry made for or inspired by Black Rock City, Nevada…
Head to Eden Park for a Free ‘Mamma Mia!’ Screening and Sing-Along
Here we go again! Join the Mount Adams Civic Association for a Mamma Mia! sing-along and free film screening in Eden Park. There will be pre-show music from Real Live Humans, so don’t be afraid to sing your heart out. MamaBear’s Mac mac and cheese food truck, Graeter’s ice cream and raffle prizes will also…
Learn How to Make a Succulent Planter While Drinking Beer During Blooms in the Taprooms at Rhinegeist
Blooms and beer can’t succ. Teachers from OTR plant shop Gia & the Blooms will be on hand to show guests the techniques of successful succulent potting and maintenance. The ticket price includes succulents, pebbles, soil, a glass terrarium and guidance through the process, plus a pint of Plum Saison, infused with lemon myrtle and…
Eat Oxen and Drink German Bier at the Cincinnati Donauschwaben Society’s Schwabenfest Party
Party like a German with the Cincinnati Donauschwaben Society. Enjoy authentic bier, music and food while taking in traditional dance performances from the Donauschwaben groups. Oktoberfest-style chicken dinners will be available on Friday, and you can come back on Saturday to try some roasted ox as well. 6 p.m.-midnight Friday (June 7); 1 p.m.-midnight Saturday…
OTR Bar Longfellow’s Other Room Helps Spearhead the Local Rum Resurgence
If you think bourbon is the original all-American spirit, think again. America was rum country long before bourbon appeared on the scene. The rum we know can be traced back to Christopher Columbus when he brought sugar cane to the West Indies. Its history spans centuries and is complex, diverse and, frankly, dark. A brief…
East Price Hill’s Bold Face Dairy Bar Offers Elevated and Epicurean Creamy Whip Flavors
With a mission “to continue sweetening life in urban Cincinnati” the Harkins family — Rhett, Jennifer and their two children — and the Grear family — Andy, Kait and their five children — united to open The Bold Face Dairy Bar, a whippy-dip-style walk-up window in East Price Hill, situated in the building adjoining the…
Eight Cincinnati Public Pools and Spraygrounds to Help Beat the Heat This Summer
Cincinnati has a wealth of public water features to keep people chill as the temperature rises: There’s a swimming pool or sprayground in nearly every neighborhood and they’re either free to frolic in or cost only a couple of bucks for admission. It ain’t no country club, but some have some pretty swanky features —…
Strict Immigration Policies Have Turned Some Ohioans from Mauritania Into People Without a Country
In 1987, when Aissata was 12, her father fled their native Mauritania to escape arrest by the government for his racial identity and political activism. He left quickly, without even the time to say goodbye. She didn’t see him again for 19 years as he hid — first in neighboring Senegal, and then in the…
Cincinnati is the Fifth Worst City in America for Bed Bugs
Pest control company Terminix has released its annual ranking of the 25 most bed-bug infested cities in America and, surprise, Cincinnati was in the top 5 — No. 5 to be exact. Just like the rankings in 2018, Ohio had the most cities on the list, with six in the top 50; Cleveland and Cincinnati…
Dogs Can Make Paw Art, You Can Drink at Washington Park During ‘Pup Arf Yappy Hour’
Make happy hour even more happy by bringing your pupper. The Secret Life of Pets is Washington Park’s Summer Cinema series movie of the week (9-11 p.m.), and the park is adding to the dog-themed fun with a free art station from Happen, Inc. where your doggo can unleash their inner “Pugcasso” by making paw…
Second Sunday on Main Gets a Pride Theme for June’s Event
Now in its 14th year, Second Sunday on Main continues to bring Main Street merchants, vendors, food trucks and more to the neighborhood for one of the city’s most eclectic street festivals. This month, SSOM kicks off Pride Month with a themed celebration. Watch as artist KC Hamant adorns Main Street with a chalk garden,…
AltPop/Hip Hop Artist K.Flay Puts Out the Call for an Opening Act for Her Cincinnati Concert Next Week
The great AltPop/Hip Hop singer/songwriter K.Flay is returning to Cincinnati next week and she's looking for a local opening act. Hometown Synth Pop artists Moonbeau were recently announced as direct support for K.Flay when she appears at Bogart's on June 12, but she has put the call out for another local to help warm up…
Camp Washington’s Mom ‘n ‘em Coffee Shop and Wine Bar is a True ‘Third Place’
Perhaps more than any other business, the coffee shop is the purview of the freelance journalist, and as such, I have frequented many in our fair city. I believe I have enough data compiled to say that Mom ‘n ‘em Coffee in Camp Washington, created by brothers Tony and Austin Ferrari, is not only a…
Rivertown Brewery, the Donut Trail and Holtman’s Team Up for SprinkAle Donut Day Release
National Donut Day is June 7 and Rivertown Brewery has collaborated with the Butler County Donut Trail and Holtman's Donuts on a special beer named SprinkAle, an imperial white ale. The first pint of SprinkAle will be poured at 4 p.m. June 7 at the Rivertown Brewery and Barrel House in Monroe, the same time…
Graeter’s Anderson Township Flagship Scoop Shop Gets a Brand New Playroom
Opened in the early 1990s, the Anderson Township Graeter's scoop shop on Beechmont Avenue in Cherry Grove is considered the flagship storefront for the brand. And after undergoing renovations in March — which added a drive-thru and a playroom experience — the store’s grand re-opening celebration starts at 11 a.m. June 5. “We’re excited to…
Here’s Where to Find Free Donuts in Cincinnati on National Donut Day
National Donut Day is June 7 and several Cincinnati-area bakeries are celebrating by giving away free donuts. From noon-1 p.m. on Fountain Square, the Salvation Army in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati Retail Bakers Association will be celebrating by giving away free sweets while supplies last. Participating bakeries include: Schmidt Bakery Holtman’s…
Forbes Magazine Calls Cincinnati a ‘Great American City’ in Recent Travel Article
A couple of months ago, Forbes travel writer Adrienne Jordan explored the Cincinnati culinary scene, suggesting "5 Great Places to Eat" in the city. This week Forbes published another story about the Queen City. Written by contributor John Oseid, the article declares Cincinnati "a great American city" that is "roaring back." The article offers praise…
One of America’s Most Prolific Serial Killers Says He Killed Six Women in Ohio. Two of Those Cincinnati-Area Murders Have Never Been Solved
One of America’s most prolific serial killers says he once killed two women in Cincinnati and left the body of another in Northern Kentucky. Their cases have never been solved, but authorities have eerie clues: portraits drawn by the man who says he killed them. Last year, 78-year-old Samuel Little confessed to 90 murders across…
Cincinnati Funk Virtuoso Freekbass Celebrates the Release of Kaleidoscopic New Album at Top Cats This Week
Veteran Cincinnati Funk musician Freekbass is back with his first full-length since 2015’s Cincinnati. Released May 31, All the Way This. All the Way That. is the bassist/singer/songwriter’s first to be released via Color Red, a Colorado studio/collective/label founded by Welsh musician Eddie Roberts. The All the Way This. side of Freekbass’ new album was…
Cincinnati Indie Pop Artist Scott Cunningham Returns with Stellar New Wake the Bear Album
Indie Pop singer/songwriter Scott Cunningham recently released Burning Through the Wonder Years, the latest album from his long-running solo project Wake the Bear. Cincinnatians were first introduced to Cunningham’s beguiling vocals and irresistibly melodic songwriting in the ’90s when he fronted the band Promenade. He debuted his WTB guise in 2005 with debut album Woe…
Minimum Gauge: Anti-Right Wing Bands Face Professional Backlash Over Political Songs
HOT: No ‘Young Republicans’ on the Air? Trump bashing generally seems to be almost expected from musicians these days, but apparently there are limits to what some music biz professionals will tolerate in terms of political speech. AltPop act Lower Dens recently tested those limits with their single “Young Republicans,” which includes lines like “We…
Winton Lake Closed Due to Nearby Sewage Leak
If you were planning a relaxing trip to the lake at Winton Woods sometime soon, you may want to reschedule. The Springfield Township attraction is closed to fishing and boating after a park employee yesterday discovered sewage flowing from a manhole north of the lake. Crews from the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati are…
Zinecinnati Fest is for Zine Newbies and Connoisseurs Alike
From the first science fiction fanzines of the 1930s to the feminist riot grrrl zines of the 1990s, niche groups and underground movements have long ridden the wave of independence in the form of self-publishing. Now, even after the dawn of the internet and the polarizing debate over the death of the printing industry, the…
‘The Souvenir’ is Emotional Ephemera
The early festival coverage of Joanna Hogg’s semi-autobiographical new release The Souvenir paints the film as the story of a budding young filmmaker caught up in a new romance, the kind of affair that leaves a lasting impression. Hogg, a longtime friend of Tilda Swinton — who has a remarkably low-key supporting role in the…
Meet Cincinnati’s Long Furb Family
Many of us are familiar with having an eccentric family. Bobby Diddle, a Cincinnati-native, is no exception. Her family consists of a spoiled princess, a drunk, a hippie, a black sheep and an idiot. But something sets her family apart from the rest of ours: they’re 3 feet tall, fuzzy and don’t blink. They’re Furbies…
Cincinnati Museum Center’s Newest OMNIMAX Film Takes Viewers on a Trip to Cuba
The Cincinnati Museum Center's newest OMNIMAX film takes viewers on an excursion to the vibrant country of Cuba. Classic cars. Cigars. Rumba. CUBA: Journey to the Heart of the Caribbean "tells the powerful story of a land preserved in time, yet continuously poised on the cusp of dramatic change," according to the museum's director of communications Cody…
Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Santana’s Hit “Smooth” — Co-Written By a Former Cincinnatian —With Rob Thomas Tonight
This month marks 20 years since the release of "Smooth," the smash hit by Santana that was written by Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas (also the singer on the track) and Itaal Shur, a former Cincinnatian who cut his teeth locally playing keys for local late ’80s Alt sensations Sleep Theater before heading to New York…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ‘Zoinks!’
Queen City Flash's Zoinks is a hilarious romp of a parody that acts as an amalgamation of all the teen sleuth capers that came before it. And that's a subgenre I find a lot of comfort in; as a kid, Scooby Doo and The Mystery Gang were my absolute faves. Seriously. I devoured basically anything…
Cincinnati Public Schools and the Cincinnati Library to Provide Free Summer Meals to Kids
Cincinnati Public Schools and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County are helping bridge the meal gap that some students may find themselves facing with during the summer season by offering free breakfasts, lunches and/or snacks to children 18 and under (or anyone between the ages of 19 and 21 determined to be mentally…
The Cincinnati Zoo Adds Food Trucks and a Forthcoming Beer Garden to New Dining Options
Long gone are the days when hungry visitors to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden were limited to cheese pizza and plain burgers. You can still get those good ol’ American favorites — along with popcorn, cotton candy and Dippin’ Dots — but the zoo has seriously stepped up its dining game to please visitors’…
Silver-Haired Foxes Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen Host a Night of Uncensored Chat at the Aronoff
Longtime friends and foxy silver-haired hosts Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen — one an Emmy-winning CNN news anchor and one the Emmy-winning face of Bravo's Watch What Happens: Live/executive producer of the Real Housewives series — make a stop at the Aronoff Center during their AC2 tour, subtitled "An Evening with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen:…
City of Cincinnati Looks for Ways to Close Streetcar Budget Deficit
Cincinnati's streetcar system faces a deficit as high as $1.36 million next fiscal year, according to the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, and the city says options for cutting costs are few and far between. That means the city needs to bring in new revenue to support the 3.6-mile rail loop through Over-the-Rhine and downtown,…
Pins Mechanical Co. Introduces Boozy Rainbow Shaved Ice for Pride Month
Newish OTR game bar Pins Mechanical Co. is releasing a line of colorful summer cocktails: spiked shaved ice. Available on the rooftop patio starting June 6, the drink comes in four flavors: Cherry & Fireball Orange & Mango Rum Lemon-Lime & Coconut Rum Blue Raspberry & Berry Rum And, during Pride Month, you can combine…
Fringe 2019 Critic’s Pick: ‘Body Language’
Body Language is a production of trial and triumph that educates and encourages survivors and supporters to continue being a beacon of light in the fight to raise awareness about sexual assault. When the phrase “Me Too”, coined by Tarana Burke in 2006, gained traction nearly two years ago with the reporting of high-profile male…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ‘The Origins of My Magic’
“Life has given me many trials, many knots.” This line comes as Louisville, Ky.-based magician Cody Clark begins to slide off knots from a scarf that he has previously knotted. After removing three knots, Clark holds the scarf up, revealing three holes where the knots came from. This scarf trick sums up Clark’s own process…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ‘This House Will Never Let Us Go’
CRITIC'S PICK Cincinnati Fringe veteran Gideon Productions’ 2019 Festival offering is in keeping with the company’s reputation for balanced, entertaining yet thought-provoking theatre. The company behind the Fringe hits God Of Obsidian (2017 Linda Bowen Full Frontal Pick) and Musical Chairs (2018 Critic’s Pick Award), Gideons’ new horror drama This House Will Never Let Us…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ‘Descent: A Murder Ballad’
The tradition of the murder ballad has a long history: A tragic story of an impulsive crime and its repercussions, told through songs, has existed for centuries. Descent, a Fringe production at Know Theatre, is a fully staged musical piece. It's a moody, gothic tale with seven songs performed by a cast of eight actors…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘The Consciousness’
If the consciousness of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart could be immortalized in a computer program, free to create new music in perpetuity, what real shot would an aspiring composer — even a brilliant one — have at achieving relevance? Like Mozart, Reece (Jason Pavlovich) is a wunderkind, a polymath who had conducted a major symphony orchestra by…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ‘Kumferted’
CRITIC'S PICK Women have been forced into sexual slavery all over the world throughout history, even today. One of the many indignations that accompanies this fact is that the perpetrating men are not willing to call it what it really is. Kumferted was inspired by the “Comfort Women” of the Japanese military during World War…
Graeter’s Ice Cream Introduces Second of Five Secret Bonus Flavors
Graeter's Ice Cream has a secret — five of them. The company is introducing five limited-time Bonus Flavors and each will be kept a total secret until the day it's released. Each Bonus Flavor will be available for a short time and once it's gone from Graeter's shops and online, it will be retired for…
Rock Legend Todd Rundgren to Play Cincinnati Concert This Week
Todd Rundgren is a bonafide Rock legend. He was part of the late ’60s Garage Rock wave, he mastered Prog and dabbled in New Wave in the ’70s and ’80s, and he’s known for a handful of Classic Rock radio staples. He’s even produced albums for Grand Funk Railroad, New York Dolls, XTC and Meat…
Documentary About Southwest Ohio Alternative Music Pioneers Brainiac Gets Cincinnati Premiere
In the early- to mid-’90s, Brainiac seemed to be on the verge of becoming Ohio’s next band to explode on a massive scale when things took a tragic turn. The innovative group’s albums on Grass and Touch and Go — as well as one of the most explosive live shows of any act from their…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ‘Walking While Black in Moscow’
CRITIC'S PICK From his first moment on stage, Los Angeles storyteller/comic Les Kurkendaal radiates what can best be described as an optimistic energy. He maintains this for more than 50 minutes while describing his experience traveling to Russia. He tells us that he had heard that Russians hate black people (he’s black); and that, to…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘Diagnose This! Tales of a Medical Actor’
As audience members file in, return Fringe artist Donna Kay Yarborough wears an old hospital gown and greets everyone with a friendly smile. “This is going to be very casual,” she assures us. And in most ways, she’s correct. What follows is a series of stories intertwined with stories and hard-learned — and sometimes physically…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘Nellie Bly: A Menace to Propriety’
Women did not receive much regard in the late nineteenth century. In 1880, an essay published in a Pittsburgh newspaper suggested that girls were principally good for bearing children and housekeeping. That opinion irritated Elizabeth Cochrane, who wrote a response using a pseudonym — “Lonely Orphan Girl” — that duly impressed the paper’s editor. He…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘Martha’
There’s a very interesting note in the program from Director/Playwright, Sean Mette, in which he fondly recalls many childhood trips to the Cincinnati Zoo with his father and brother, where he’d often visit the Passenger Pigeon Memorial, which educates modern visitors about humankind’s obliteration of an entire species of bird. The last of their species…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘The MILF Also Rises’
Jennifer Joplin's one-woman show The MILF Also Rises is an incredibly intimate hour of bare-all truth-telling that is both genuinely funny as well as thought-provoking. There are three things she knows for certain: She has a vagina, likes drinking — maybe too much — and in the end, we all die. No one makes it out…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ‘Dandy Darkly’s All Aboard’
Twisted and timely, Dandy Darkly’s All Aboard: Southern Fried Tales of Sex and Death is a dazzling display of skillful, solo performance. Frosted with ruffles and glitter and drenched in plot-relevant costume jewelry, drag clown satirist Dandy Darkly invites audiences aboard the runaway storytelling train that speeds them off to the remote backwaters of Gaybird, Georgia,…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ‘My Geriatric Uterus’
CRITIC'S PICK As the war on a woman’s right to choose continues to divide the country, one woman is taking on the fight in a hilarious, yet soul-stirring performance as she approaches her mid-thirties. In a span of 60 minutes, Cincinnati artist and creator Lormarev Jones boldly challenges audiences to call out the hypocrisy of…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ‘Let’s Prank Call Each Other’
CRITIC'S PICK Have you ever experienced creativity in someone that amazes you? That was my experience at new Cincy Fringe participant Zach Dorn’s live-action, multimedia comic book extravaganza Let’s Prank Call Each Other. From the moment the audience enters the house, Dorn is completely in character. We are greeted by a frazzled artist whizzing around…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘The Devil on the Wall or, That Time I Got Kidnapped’
Though the title certainly promises adventure and excitement, comedian Jamie Campbell, the voice behind this true story, makes sure that it’s not quite the adventure you were expecting. In his Cincy Fringe debut, Campbell uses his solo performance as a piece of cathartic storytelling for both himself and his audience. The Devil on the Wall…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘The Vicious Hillbilly or Dating in the Deep South’
Southern gothic writer Flannery O’Connor once said that a good man is hard to find. A self-described progressive with an overabundance of education and living in the Deep South, Dawn Larsen can sing you a song — or ten — about heartache in Trump country. In her solo performance offering at this year’s Cincinnati Fringe Festival, Larsen…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ’90 Lies an Hour’
Critic's Pick Storyteller Paul Strickland needs to officially be proclaimed a local treasure. He first came to the Cincinnati Fringe in 2013 with his tall tales of “Ain’t True and Uncle False,” perhaps the most prominent and certainly the most colorful residents of the Big Fib Cul-de-Sac Trailer Park. He’s returned annually with one show…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘Borderline A**hole’
Solo performer Julie Gieseke bares her conflicted, self-doubting soul in this 60-minute performance, written with director Nina Wise (and developed by Martha Rynberg and Tanya Taylor Rubinstein). “Julie” is on the hunt for her ideal girlfriend, resorting to an expensive dating service after other avenues have failed. Before that starts, she meets Monica, an offbeat…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘SUFFER Fools’
A biblical saying about persons "who suffer fools gladly" has entered into modern language in the reverse, generally used when describing someone who has no patience for idiocy or exasperating behavior (one who ‘doesn’t suffer fools gladly’ and so on). From this slight context, local theatre artists Buz Davis and Leah Strasser have composed a…
FRINGE 2019 CRITIC’S PICK: ‘Dave Maher Coma Show’
CRITICS PICK So here’s the setup: a struggling Chicago comic has been a diabetic since childhood; he’s smoking too much weed and isn’t taking care of himself and lapses into a coma, which leads to his hospitalization. In critical condition, his health fails to the point that his friends and family say their goodbyes and…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘Puppets Should Speak’
In Puppets Should Speak Amanda has a problem with her boyfriend Alex, a ventriloquist dummy who has been giving her the silent treatment as of late, despite her attempts to connect with him on a deeper emotional level. Doctor Fine, Amanda’s hard-drinking therapist whose methods are erratic at best and deadly at worst, seems to have…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘Marriage: A Work in Progress’
Marriage: A Work in Progress is a two-person improv show made up of an improvised stream-of-consciousness collection of miniature narratives that take a comical look at the quirky dynamics in a marital relationship. The performers — Lauren Katz and Joey Slotnick — are charismatic and adept at finding a rhythm to improv’s greatest prerogative: the ability to…
FRINGE 2019 REVIEW: ‘Kill You With My Love’
Most of us wear the scars of relationships that have ended badly. Luckily, Kay has never been burdened with a messy breakup. Her boyfriends just die. Such is the “curse” carried by the protagonist of Tracy Hoida’s Kill You With My Love, presented by Cincinnati-based Muwhahaha Productions and performed at the Art Academy of Cincinnati.…
State Lawmaker Blasts Canceled LGBTQ Event at Ohio Public Library
Two public libraries in central Ohio recently canceled LGBTQ-related events after public backlash. One in Delaware County aimed at teaching young people about the artistic elements of drag performance was canceled by the library late last month after it said it received threats related to the class. Another in Newark was to offer a number…
College Hill’s Fern is Turning Five and Celebrating with a Plant Sale and Lot Party
Plants are certifiably cool. From leafy green wonders to sprawling vines and low maintenance (but very cute!) succulents, they also make a damn good distraction from looming existential dread and a grueling news cycle. Maybe that's why millennials are filling their houses to the brim with them. But it's also why we're thankful for local…
Taste Beer Made with Cincinnati’s Own Strain of Yeast at Urban Artifact’s Missing Linck Day
Cincinnati brewery Urban Artifact recently made booze history with the creation of its Missing Linck ale, a unique beer brewed from a previously unknown strain of yeast discovered in a 164-year-old lagering cellar hidden beneath the city streets. The golden ale, which is reminiscent of a Belgian beer, “permits the flavor of its ancient yeast to…
Cincy Summer Beerfest Takes Over Smale Riverfront Park
The 11th annual summertime Cincy Beerfest will have a change of venue, moving from Great American Ball Park to Smale Riverfront Park for a single-day, two-session fest on Saturday, Aug. 3. The venue change is the second in a row — last year saw the event move from Fountain Square to the ballpark. The fest…
Lawsuit Alleges Mayor, Cincinnati Used ‘Sham Legal Process’ Against Homeless Camps
Residents of a downtown camp removed last summer will be allowed to go forward with a lawsuit alleging that the City of Cincinnati and Mayor John Cranley acted in bad faith in clearing those camps, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black decided May 29. Cranley and the city, however, strongly dispute a central claim of the…
Downtown’s Contemporary Arts Center Has Announced its New Exhibition Season Line-Up
Downtown's Contemporary Arts Center has unveiled its upcoming end of 2019/start of 2020 exhibition and performing arts season. Here's the lowdown on what's coming. Sept. 20, 2019-Jan. 12, 2020: Art and Race Matters — a comprehensive retrospective of the late Robert Colescott's work — will open the season. Known for his often satirical and expressionistic…
Newport’s Arcadian Comics Partners With Library to Bring Nearly 10,000 Comics to Local Branches
During the summer months — when students are out of school — The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County takes its programming to a whole new level, offering up reading incentives, educational “Brain Camps” and meals and snacks at select branches. Now, in collaboration with Newport’s independent Arcadian Comics shop, graphic novels and comic…
Cincinnati Fringe Festival 2019 Reviews
The Cincinnati Fringe Festival enters its 16th iteration on Friday, May 31 and runs through June 15. Cincy Fringe hosts a wide range of new and established local, national and international productions in a dozen venues across Over-the-Rhine, including onstage at Fringe producer Know Theatre, as well as The Mini Microcinema, Art Academy of Cincinnati,…
Happy 41st Birthday to Everybody’s Records
Everybody's Records, a Cincinnati institution that sells used and new music releases in Pleasant Ridge, turns 41 years old this weekend. It's a remarkable feat for a record store to last so long, surviving and thriving through the various shifts in music consumption over the years (particularly in the current digital age). To celebrate, the…
Make Room in Your Tot Pocket: The Video Archive Hosts a 15th Anniversary Screening of ‘Napoleon Dynamite’
Want to feel old? On June 11, it will be 15 years to the day since the hit comedy Napoleon Dynamite was first released in theaters. Naturally, cult followers of the film will mark the occasion with tether ball games, llama feedings and movie screenings to re-experience Napoleon in all its 2004 glory. Locally, Cincinnati fans can…
The Ohio State University to Create National Campus Sexual Abuse Task Force After Strauss Revelations
In the wake of revelations that now-deceased team doctor Richard Strauss sexually abused at least 177 people over the course of almost two decades, the Ohio State University will create a national campus sexual abuse task force. OSU President Michael Drake announced the launch of the task force May 31 at the university's monthly board…
Spend Your Sunday with Acclaimed Country Rocker Hayes Carll
Hayes Carll is a gifted singer/songwriter with an independent streak as wide and as chaotically active as an eight-lane highway, and a mood-swing sense of musical diversity that simultaneously incorporates and transcends Folk, Indie Rock, Americana and Roots Rock. Equally impressive are Carll’s lyrical acumen and emotional range in the service of songs that ride…
Ohio House Holds Hearings on Bill Allowing Concealed Carry Without a Permit
A bill is winding its way through the Ohio House of Representatives that would eliminate the need to get a permit before carrying a concealed firearm. So far, 27 of 61 House Republicans support the bill, and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has said he is reviewing the legislation. But law enforcement groups and gun control…
Help Dayton Tornado Victims By Visiting These Cincinnati Breweries
A series of tornados and catastrophic storms swept through Ohio and Indiana on May 27, producing 11 tornadoes in the Buckeye State, according to the National Weather Service, killing one person and injuring dozens. Emergency crews and volunteers are busy picking up the wreckage from those storms as other aid efforts take shape, including some…
Brown Bear Bakery Hosts Final Friday Pop-Up Dinner and Art Show
Over-the-Rhine's popular pastry shop Brown Bear Bakery will host their first ever pop-up dinner event this Final Friday (May 31). The collaboration will include dinner by local chef Nav Lekhi of Preet's, an Indian-American food stand which does pop-up dinners throughout the city, and art from local watercolor artist Joya Logue (who has a line of…
Cincinnati Hip Hop Group Triiibe Drop New Music Video for “Mask Off”
Local Hip Hop group — and reigning Cincinnati Entertainment Award winner for Artist of the Year — Triiibe has released a new music video for "Mask Off," a track from the trio's 2018 debut album, III AM WHAT III AM. The song is an empowerment anthem, aggressively making a statement about staying true to one's core…
FC Cincinnati, West End Residents Reach a Deal
The contentious battle over the fate of people living in two West End buildings purchased by FC Cincinnati earlier this year appears to have reached a resolution — just a day before residents were slated to be out of those buildings. Attorneys for the team and for residents announced they had reached a deal May…
Charles Manson is the Most Wikipedia’ed Cincinnati Native According to Interactive Mapping Project
A new interactive map from the digital publication The Pudding tracks natives from various cities across the country and shows which ones are the most popular — or at least most searched on Wikipedia. While some surrounding cities have the honor of producing fun celebrities like Kim Deal (Huber Heights, Ohio), Brooklyn Decker (Middletown, Ohio)…
Watch Lil Nas X Surprise Some Hyped Kids at a Northern Ohio Elementary School
The principal of Lander Elementary in Mayfield Heights in Northern Ohio last week posted a video showing all the sweet kiddos enjoying "Old Town Road," which caught the attention of Lil Nas X, who then asked if they wanted a free show. About a week later, logistics were set and the Country rapper made his…
Cincinnati-Based Indie Pop Faves WHY? Release Three New Tracks and a Short Film
Artful Cincinnati-based Indie Pop troupe WHY? has released a fantastic new EP and short film. The three-track I: I may come out a broken yolk, I may come out on saddle. is Yoni Wolf and Co.’s first new music since 2017’s Moh Lhean and follows a 2018 live album recorded at Jack White’s Third Man…
Annual Roebling Suspension Bridge Photo Contest Continues Through June 30
The Roebling Bridge has been a popular subject for Greater Cincinnati photographers — and visitors — for over a century. The historic bridge, named after engineer John A. Roebling, was the longest suspension bridge in the world for nearly 20 years until Roebling's other famous project — the Brooklyn Bridge — broke the record. The…
Red Bike Launches 100 E-Bikes at Stations Across Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Cincinnati's sweeping, undulating hills are great for Instagram, but a pain for budding cyclists. Maybe the thought of those hills has kept you from riding as much as you'd like as you commute to work or hop from one neighborhood to another. Or maybe overall distance is a barrier. Or perhaps you feel like you…
See a One-Night-Only Staging of Will Brumley’s ‘The Clinic’ to Raise Funds for Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio
As one of several readings taking place throughout the country in response to the increase in restrictive abortion legislation, local artists/activists will be staging a one-night-only reading of Will Brumley's The Clinic as a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio and the Yellowhammer Fund of Alabama, which helps eliminate barriers to access for those seeking…
Funkmaster George Clinton Brings Final Tour with Parliament-Funkadelic to Cincinnati This Weekend
Fresh off touring in Australia (including dates with his famed disciples the Red Hot Chili Peppers), music legend George Clinton has launched what he says will be his final tour with Parliament-Funkadelic after five decades in the biz. “I would love to keep on doing this, but I’ll be 78 in a few more months,”…
New Riff Hosts its Second Annual Giant Bourbon Toast on Purple People Bridge — and an OH vs. KY Tug-of-War
Newport distillery New Riff is celebrating National Bourbon Day on June 14 with its second annual big ass bourbon toast on the Purple People Bridge. The distillery is inviting anyone and everyone who likes bourbon to head to the bridge to reenact last year's World's Biggest Bourbon Toast, which it held to honor the release…
BLINK Plans to Light Up the Roebling Bridge — and Make it ‘Sing’
This fall's highly anticipated BLINK event will feature a monumental new addition. Unfolding Oct. 10-13, the BLINK 2019 art and light festival will span 30 blocks and cross the Ohio River with large-scale projection mapping, murals, interactive light sculptures, live entertainment and more. And officials announced in a press release May 30 that the historic Roebling Bridge…
Full Schedule for This Weekend’s Bunbury Music Festival and Official After-Party Concerts
Founded by veteran Cincinnati promoter Bill Donabedian, the Bunbury Music Festival began drawing thousands of music fans from across the region in 2012 with early lineups that included bands like Weezer, Death Cab for Cutie and The National. In 2014, Columbus, Ohio’s PromoWest Productions took over, helping further cement the riverfront festival’s status as one…
Cincinnati Named Sixth Most Affordable Family Vacation Destination
According to a study by financial website SmartAsset, the Queen City is a hot spot for affordable travel, especially for families. The study gathered data from 48 of the country's largest cities and evaluated hotel, travel, car rental and meals for a family of four over a three-day span. While a majority of the destinations…
