Review: Pomegranates’ ‘Heaven’
Heaven, the fourth album by remarkable Cincinnati-based Indie Pop troupe Pomegranates, is in stores today (cyber or otherwise) and, this weekend, the group presents a hometown album release party to celebrate. And there’s plenty of reason to celebrate — Heaven is a stunning work of art that manages to top not only the Poms’ past…
Music Tonight: Radiohead and Yelawolf
It’s been 19 years since British Art Rock giants Radiohead did their first tour of the U.S. Tonight, Radiohead finally finds time to perform in Cincinnati, bringing its tour behind last year’s Grammy-nominated album The King of Limbs to Riverbend Music Center. If there’s any band worth waiting that long for, it’s Radiohead. The world’s…
Your Tuesday To Do List
Did you know today is World Environment Day? In 1972, the United Nations designated June 5 as a day to spread global awareness of ecological issues and encourage political response. This year’s theme is Green Economy: Does It Include You? If you partake in some especially green activities this week, such as organizing a recycling…
Online City Budget Survey Extended
The city of Cincinnati has extended its deadline for Cincinnati citizens to take part in an online survey focusing on the city's budget priorities. Citizens now have until this Friday, June 8, to fill out the survey, which asks participants to allocate a theoretical city budget of $100 to several different "strategic priorities," accordingly. The…
Music: The Beach Boys
When people say The Beach Boys are iconic, they are usually referring to the band’s association with sunshine, cars and girls. The group, however, is woven into the very fabric of this country in so many more ways. Clean-cut on the surface, they are ultimately dysfunctional, haunted by failings and personal demons and are deeply…
Alternative Press Premieres Two Cincy Bands’ Videos
Ohio-born national music mag Alternative Press has been showing Cincinnati music some love the past two days. Yesterday, altpress.com premiered "Business Papers," a video by local Punk/Pop greats The Dopamines. The trio just released its new album, Vices, last weekend, but "Papers" was the Dopas' contribution to the The Thing That Ate Larry Livermore compilation.…
Event: Cincinnati Rollergirls Crosstown Knockdown
Next season’s Crosstown Shootout has been moved to U.S. Bank Arena to prevent possible violence between players and fans. But who needs a Yancy Gates right hook when you can have a track full of women who would love nothing more than to knock out the competition’s teeth? A little bit of aggressive, point-scoring skating…
Morning News and Stuff
A federal appeals court yesterday reinstated an antitrust lawsuit against Duke Energy. The lawsuit accuses Duke of paying kickbacks to local companies in order to gain support for a 2004 electric rate increase. The lawsuit alleges that Duke appeased the more powerful opposing companies by including rebate deals for them. The suit is seeking unspecified…
Art: Abandon Ship
Be it final Friday or third Thursday, just about every neighborhood with an art gallery has their version of the monthly art walk. In Northside, Cincinnati’s most unconventional ’hood, it’s second Saturdays. From 6-10 p.m., shops of all manner keep the doors open and the music on, welcoming visitors to experience Northside’s diversity firsthand. While…
Comedy: Aziz Ansari: Buried Alive Tour
Most know him as Tom Haverford from Parks and Recreation, and some know him from his appearances in films. Rolling Stone named him the “funniest man alive under 30.” Aziz Ansari is back for a second hour-long stand-up special. With his self-deprecating, quirky act, the comedian can always land laughs even from the stiffest crowds. Ansari’s last tour was…
Art: Community Education Faculty Exhibition
If you’ve ever harbored the secret thought of taking an art class, and why not? It could open a new world. Stop by the Art Academy of Cincinnati to see the Pearlman Gallery exhibition of Community Education Faculty works. These artists/teachers work in media across the board: Elizabeth Neal creates small wonders in ink and…
Music: The Dynamites
After an exuberant kick-off last week spotlighting energized Austin rockers The Bright Light Social Hour, the second MidPoint Indie Summer concert — free local and national acts every Friday on Fountain Square this summer season — is a mini-musical world tour, covering classic Soul Funk, Jamaican Ska/Reggae and Timbuktu desert Blues. Headlining is the sweaty…
Bombus and Berrylinne (Recommended)
Recommended And now for something completely different, as the Monty Python guys used to say: Four Humors Theater, back for another year at the Cincinnati Fringe, brings a wholly different — and totally charming — piece for audiences of all ages, Bombus and Berrylinne. It’s the story of an inept bumblebee (played by roly-poly Jason…
Onstage: True Fringe
One of the highlights of the 2011 Fringe Festival was an evening produced by the David Levy and Jeff Groh, who mastermind the quarterly “True Theatre.” For “True Fringe,” they recruited Fringe artists to talk about real moments from their lives, and the results were entertaining and insightful. “True Fringe” is back for another year…
Event: Taste of Duveneck
Don’t miss the Cincinnati Art Museum’s Taste of Duveneck. Celebrating its 22nd anniversary, this year’s event will feature many favorite wine and food vendors from past years along with new local restaurants, all providing tastes of their finest offerings for your pleasure. The event will also host a raffle and live auction featuring prizes such…
Comedy: Donnie Baker
Donnie Baker almost never made it to the Bob & Tom Show, where he is now a staple. The character’s creator, Ron Sexton, had a difficult time getting his foot in the popular duo’s studio door. Sexton worked in the same building as Bob and Tom in Indianapolis, although he was doing sports on a…
Review: Magnolia Mountain’s ‘Town and Country’
When people are confronted with my ridiculously voluminous music collection, they are most often struck with its distinct lack of commonality. Growing up within 70 miles of Detroit in the ’60s will do that; anything you can imagine between and beyond Motown and The Stooges will generally light my sparkler. In reference to music specifically…
Music Tonight: Homemade Drugs and Michael Bolton!
Tonight at MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine, relative local newcomers Homemade Drugs begin their June House Band residency, which has them performing free shows every Monday this month. Homemade Drugs is the trio of Brian McCabe, Chris Patoka and Tyler Stacey, who collectively make a trippy and engaging Pscyh Rock noise with an Experimental Pop bent…
Phantogram with Sacred Spirits
Five years ago, Sarah Barthel returned to her upstate New York home after becoming frustrated with the visual arts program she was pursuing in college. Back in Saratoga Springs, Barthel reconnected with junior high pal Josh Carter, who had left New York City following a short run with an experimental band. The two old friends…
Natalie Merchant with Cincinnati Pops
In 2010, Natalie Merchant made a lovely two-disc album called Leave Your Sleep, inspired by the way raising her young daughter had given Merchant insight into the mysteries and complexities — the sweetness and the anxieties — of childhood. She wrote songs adapted from the words of 19th and 20th Century British and American poets…
The Avett Brothers
Remember a few years ago when you couldn’t walk into a Starbucks without hearing the words, “Three words that became hard to say/I and love and you?” At the time, you probably rolled your eyes at yet another attempt to reel in hipsters from their local coffee shops. However, the man whimpering those words was…
Glee’s Chris Colfer Coming to Cincinnati
In Glee, Kurt Hummel may have graduated from Lima, Ohio's McKinley High, but actor Chris Colfer will return his character's home state this summer while promoting and signing his new children's book, The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell. Colfer, a 22-year-old Emmy nominee and Golden Globe winner, found time between takes on Glee to…
This Date in Music History: June 4
On this day in 1994, the MTV Movie Awards paid tribute to The Beatles with a special performance by the band that recorded the Beatles songs (or rather, the songs The Beatles covered in their early days) for the soundtrack to the film Backbeat. As seen in the clip below, the band included Hamilton, Ohio's…
Little Dragon with Red Hot Chili Peppers
In July 2011, Esquire writer Andy Langer argued that Little Dragon's sound bears great resemblance to Prince's, and once you engage that comparison, it's difficult to hear the band any other way. The four-piece from Gothenburg, Sweden, sounds a whole hell of a lot like His Purple Majesty when he was at his best in…
Morning News and Stuff
Hamilton County has been killing people more often than Ohio counties of similar size, despite actually asking for the death penalty less often. Today's Enquirer takes a look at the growing opposition to the death penalty in other states and recent legislation and task forces aimed at either studying its effectiveness or stopping the practice…
Dawes with Sara Watkins
At least twice recently, Rolling Stone has referred to someone’s sound as “Laurel Canyon.” If you were born after the late ’70s and don’t have a soft spot for Neil Young and his friends, you probably have no idea what it is they’re referencing. To gain a sense of what it is they’re talking about,…
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys have been blessing audience’s ears with happy and fun tunes (with occasional blasts of melancholy) for 50 years. As they embark on a 50th anniversary tour, they are preparing to release their 31st album, titled That’s Why God Made The Radio, which is also the title of the first single. Everyone who…
The Doppelganger Cometh and Overtaketh
In her director’s notes for The Doppelganger Cometh and Overtaketh, Leah Strasser says, “We hope you find this play as funny as we do, because we still laugh every time we hear it.” If that was the goal of Strasser, who also plays a central role, and her colleagues who have announced the birth of…
Kiss Kiss Missiles: A Retrospectacle (Recommended)
Recommended The most engaging of the three dances presented by The Space/Movement Project in Kiss Kiss Missiles: A Retrospectacle is the first, with all five of the company’s dancers barefoot and wearing costumes that could almost have come out of their everyday closets with a sash or a ribbon added for the stage. A dancer…
Nothing (Recommended)
Recommended Nothing, Nic Balthazar’s piece about bullying, makes it U.S. premiere as Unity Productions’ Fringe production, presented at Know Theatre. A one-man show, the multimedia play uses video and music to move the story forward. Nothing mixes forms and does it well: one part engrossing stage drama and one part, documentary. Ben, played by Jon…
Dances For a Recession
If you’re concerned about seeing modern dance and not “getting it,” fear not. Pas de Monkéy Dance Project from Akron wants to keep dance accessible — friendly, even. The young company affiliated with the University of Akron might be gaining the training and the chops for serious dance, but they don’t take themselves too seriously.…
Radio Star (Recommended)
Recommended Radio drama was a distinct art form in the middle of the 20th century, and Tanya O’Debra’s Fringe show, Radio Star, evokes that evocative mode of storytelling, complete with sound effects, with a distinctly modern filter. All by herself onstage, seated at a table with an old-fashioned radio microphone and surrounded by devices to…
Strange Dreamz
Kevin J. Thornton has a following after multiple appearances at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. In 2011 his comic monologue and music act, I Love You (We’re Fucked), was a big draw (as was his earlier show, Sex, Dreams & Self Control), and this year’s Strange Dreamz opened to a full house at the Hanke 2…
Project Activate (Recommended)
Recommended A performance based on social activism isn’t in and of itself very fringy. Lots of artists till that field in their works. But when a performance ambitiously asks audiences to participate in social experiments and does so in a strangely uplifting way, well, that’s utterly Fringe. Props to local multi-disciplinary arts group Pones Inc.…
Third Quarter Moon
The Twilight Saga has already provided plenty of opportunities for parody, and the bare-bones performance outfit, Ornamental Messiah from Newport, adds another to the list with their 60-minute production of Third Quarter Moon. The setup is a point-for-point reconstruction of the Stephanie Myers tent pole: Livia Swain, played with an excess of sass by Mindy…
Love Knots
Love Knots, this year’s Fringe submission from Cincinnati’s Essex Theatre Arts Studio, has good, even sweet, intentions: five 10-minute plays by Phil Paradis, each trying to untangle love. The production’s weak writing and flat, uninspired staging sours the experience of a piece that should have been frothy, warm, and kind of tingly — day-old coffee…
A Hands On Guide to the Apocalypse (Recommended)
Recommended If you’ve had it up to here with Love Thy Neighbor, this is the show for you. A Hands On Guide to the Apocalypse arrives just in time, since 2012 — as we’re being frequently reminded — is the year the Mayans tagged for the end of the world. So what happens next? (Somehow…
Tainted Love: A Zombie-Human Love Story
Truth be told, zombies aren’t my thing on a good day. And on a day when there are several true-life "bathsaltacular" face-eating and/or porn start zombie stories on the news, it was harder to settle in to a zombie romp. This particular romp is by local playwright Alan Jozwiak and was adapted from a short…
The Mistakes Madeline Made (Recommended)
Recommended The mistakes Madeline made, which give title to this 75-minute excursion into wanton lack of bathing and job despair, are exactly those our heroine Edna adopts as her personal route to coming of age and meeting life on its own terms. A how-do-we-get-grown-up story seems appropriate for the annual intern project at Ensemble Theatre…
On Her Pillow: Too True Tales of Black Little White Girl
Honour Pillow probably already knows that she’s going to have a tough time making you feel sorry for her when she takes the stage for her solo show at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Having spent the early part of her career as a runway model in New York, she bears a fine resemblance to…
The Screw You Revue (Recommended)
Recommended If you’re easily offended, this is not the show for you. If you aren’t, just park your PC-ness at the door. The opening-night audience members appeared to enjoy the improv comedy antics and colorful songs … and the quick-turn insults. I’m talking about the aptly titled The Screw You Revue, courtesy of Screw You…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
By now, you’ve probably seen Isaac Lamb’s masterfully choreographed routine/marriage proposal to Amy Frankel. The Portland, Ore. couple reached cyber stardom with YouTube video “Isaac’s Live Lip-Dub Proposal” — just one week after being posted, it's approaching 12 million views. It is important to note that despite various website mentions, this is decidedly not “hipster”…
School of Seven Bells Added to Indie Summer Series
New York City Indie group School of Seven Bells has been added to the lineup for the 2012 MidPoint Indie Summer series (kicking off tonight at 7 p.m.!). The project sprouted in 2007 when guitarist Benjamin Curtis split from The Secret Machines and joined forces with singer Alejandra Deheza. The electronic-infused group's most recent release,…
It’s Very Fringy in Here … Hello? Hello?
The Cincinnati Fringe Festival is in full effect, and CityBeat's intrepid team of reviewers is on the scene. Check back early and often for reviews of all 32 performances, nearly all of which will have their first performance reviewed. You'll be completely in the know for this weekend's Fringy festivities. Go here for CityBeat's full…
Review: Brad Hatfield’s ‘Uphill From Anywhere’
Cincinnati is loaded with Blues talent. Always has been. Yet it is still a rare and noteworthy occasion when a Cincinnati Blues artist releases an album with primarily original music. Brad Hatfield has long been considered one of the area’s premier harmonica slingers. With his new release, Uphill From Anywhere, he also establishes himself as…
Your Weekend To Do List: 6/1-6/3
Cincinnati’s annual seasonal art celebration, Summerfair, returns for the 45th year at Coney Island this weekend. The festival includes 300 crafters and fine artists from around town, the country and Canada as well as performers and food vendors. Peruse photography, glass and wood works, ceramics, fiber arts and more as you explore one of the…
Music Tonight: MidPoint Indie Summer and More
According to The Weather Channel, showers are tapering off and it'll be overcast today with a high of 63. Perfect "cool new jacket" weather (even if you did just pack it away after temps reached into the 90s). And a perfect night to enjoy the first MidPoint Indie Summer concert of 2012. The free, every-Friday…
This Date in Music History: June 1
On this day in 2000, Scottish Indie Pop giants Belle and Sebastian made their first appearance on the British show Top of the Pops. With a gorilla (see video below). Some of the band members also almost made their first appearance in jail after reportedly breaking onto the set of hugely popular BBC soap opera…
Stage Door: Fringe, ‘Avenue Q,’ CSC, etc.
There’s more theater and performance than you can shake a stick at in Over-the-Rhine this weekend, thanks to the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. (In fact, if you stand on a corner in OTR and shake a stick, you could be mistaken for a Fringe act …) You can read about all the Fringe productions that…
Morning News and Stuff
The FBI has been investigating the long-stalled Kenwood Towne Place development for the past year, and a grand jury will determine whether crimes were committed involving the improper use of funding for the project, according to The Enquirer. CityBeat on May 16 reported that Nathan Bachrach, host of local radio show Simply Money, was among…
Hope’s Real Life
The last time Hope was in my life was early October, 1994. I had just come back from Seattle, where my twin brother had died. We met at a bar in Price Hill. Hope and I got our drinks, went to a table and talked about my brother maybe for a couple minutes. Then we…
The Storms Beneath Her Skin
When it comes to issues of gender and identity, there is plenty of room for confusion … and curiosity. Male and female aren’t quite the simple either/or checkboxes you might imagine. All sorts of questions abound, from terminology to the experiences of day-to-day living. Chicago-based artist and speaker Rebecca Kling, a transgender woman, delivers some…
Cecily and Gwendolyn’s Fantastical Anthropological Inquisitorial Probe
“Let the probe begin!” That’s how Kelly A. Jenkins and Karen Getz begin Cecily and Gwendolyn’s Fantastical Anthropological Inquisitorial Probe, presented at the makeshift performance space at 1425 Main Street. Sporting thin white hoop skirts, and even thinner English accents, the pair do not so much perform as conduct a 60-plus minute conversation with the…
Trapped in a Box (Recommended)
Recommended The box Audrey is trapped in is a theater box office, and she is the voice on the phone. Audrey’s calling is indeed the theater, but her goal is the stage itself, not selling tickets to the audience. I personally will never ever be rude on the phone again after listening to Audrey fend…
Latitude (Recommended)
Recommended Jeanne MamLuft is a brainy director and accomplished choreographer (and filmmaker), and it shows. Latitude, at the Hanke 1 performance space on Main Street, gives MamLuft & Co. Dance the latitude, or room for maneuver, if you will, to present modern dance in a fresh way. Since the concept is billed as an exploration…
Where Is My Mind? (Recommended)
Recommended Holy smokes. Where do I start? In this remarkable take on the one-man show, Jackie Strait (I cannot for the life of me find the name of the performer in any of the materials about Schedule C Productions from Indiana) finds himself in a straitjacket, bomber hat and safety glasses with a group of…
Don’t Cross the Streams (Recommended)
Recommended A musical based on an iconic supernatural comedy from 1984 is the kind of show we’ve come to expect during the Cincinnati Fringe. But there’s nothing expectable about Don’t Cross the Streams, which begins with that notion and then processes and reprocesses the idea to a point of ridiculous hilarity. We begin predictably enough…
American Badass in Cincy
Tommy Nugent is a familiar Cincinnati Fringe performer: Starting in 2007, he’s been here with Tommy Nugent’s The Show and Tommy Nugent’s Burning Man Redux. He’s a monologist grounded in public speaking — not exactly a theater guy, but someone who’s totally comfortable in front of an audience. Although in the program for this year’s…
Quake: A Closet Love Story (Recommended)
Recommended There’s a rift between Joe and Hannah, the couple at the epicenter of New Edgecliff Theatre’s Fringe piece, Quake: A Closet Love Story, by Tyler Olson. Once upon a time, the two were married and in love. But recently, they’ve split. When the lights come up on the pair, they are hard at work dividing…
Female Desires
Female Desires is a collection of monologues expressing the desires, needs, challenges and fears of young women today. Written by Eliza Martin, the piece is organized into four quartets of interwoven stories, loosely connected to each other thematically. Within a sentence or two of each woman’s story, you understand exactly who she is: Cutter. 16 and…
2012 FringeNext: You Will Have 25 Minutes to Complete This Essay
You Will Have 25 Minutes To Complete This Essay is one of two teen-created shows in this year’s FringeNext category. Written and directed by Alexx Rouse, it is a happy breeze of a piece that plays against teen stereotypes by speaking directly to them and then surprising you again with odd little twists. The set-up is…
Heartless Bastard Gets Sandwich Named After Him
Forget the Grammys, a mugshot posted on The Smoking Gun or a re-tweet from Lil Wayne — in the celebrity world, the greatest honor is to have a sandwich named after you. If you use that yardstick, Jesse Ebaugh, the bassist for the locally-spawned, nationally-acclaimed, Austin, Texas-based Heartless Bastards (known formerly for work with local…
Politwoops: You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide
Some contain blatant spelling and grammatical errors, some are offensive and others just don't make any damn sense. From major gaffe to minor slip-up, tweet aggregator Politwoops has created a Twitter feed-like stream of every tweet deleted by a politician —it's all in the name of transparency, but the results are often hilarious. The project…
Music Tonight: Chris Webby, Kofi Baker and More
Up-and-coming underground rapper Chris Webby performs tonight at downtown club Play. Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets are $20 at the door. The show is open to all ages. Guests include GMB, Nynewest and hosts DJ Scholar and DJ Drowsy. Webby is a Connecticut native (he has it tattooed on his chest; I'd move…
Dear Downtown
You were a shit show this weekend and I straight up don’t appreciate it — in fact, I still get so irritated when I think about this weekend that my butt and calf muscles tense up into tiny little balls. I was too hot, too hungry and too dressed up to deal with whatever you…
DOMA Ruled Unconstitutional in First Circuit
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled today that the 16-year Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional for banning federal benefits for married same-sex couples. The Court's three judges ruled unanimously that DOMA is discriminatory because it denies equal rights to same-sex married couples. The ruling applies only to the regions…
Your Thursday To Do List
Streetfilms Film Festival takes over Emery Theatre tonight for a party and showcase of films from locals and creatives from around the world. Since 2006, Streetfilms has been producing short films about how smart transportation design and policy can result in better places to live, work and play. The organization has traveled across the globe…
This Date in Music History: May 31
On this date in 1976, British Rock legends The Who performed a concert at the Charlton Athletic Football Ground in London that was one for the record books. The Guinness Book of World Records, in fact. The records-keepers deemed The Who's concert the loudest ever, with the sound measuring 126 dBs about 100 feet from…
Keep on Truckin’
Screaming bugs and buzzing A/C units are familiar sounds that let us know summer is near. Cincinnati’s 11 food trucks that are preparing for their next season are quieter signs of the warm weather, most of which are marked by their loud colors, aromatic fumes and the absence of “It’s a Small World After All”…
Eat Well, Cincinnati
If you’re a foodie, Cincinnati is a good place to live and a great place to visit. We have an incredibly diverse and plentiful dining scene, with local eateries seeming to outnumber chain restaurants. We have Findlay Market and countless smaller neighborhood farmers’ markets where we can obtain locally produced goods. Vegetarians aren’t second-class citizens…
Wright On a Roll
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Poutine from Senate Restaurant in Over-the-Rhine is my Green Mile death row last request meal. Hey, not that I’m planning to start a life of crime, but if I do, I want to be sure you get this right. Give me those truffle fries, the…
The Sweet, Burning Yonder (Recommended)
Recommended With imaginative but rudimentary costumes and minimal sets and props, the ensemble cast of The Sweet, Burning Yonder, directed by Michael Burnham, brought John Ray’s often poetic, streaming language to vivid life in its opening performance. This is sometimes biting, but mostly broadly humorous, satire, which will tickle your funny bone without heaping too…
Rodney Rumple’s Random Reality
The Performance Gallery is the only troupe to have presented a show at every Cincinnati Fringe Festival since its inception. Many of those previous productions have been intricate and brilliant, while a few were brave experiments that didn’t quite take flight. Unfortunately, Rodney Rumple’s Random Reality falls into the second category. The setup is kind…
Methtacular (Recommended)
Recommended Steven Strafford is one hell of a performer. But his young adult life as a promiscuous, gay, crystal meth addict was one hell of a mess. He courageously and humorously lays it all out in Methtacular, a monologue of 80 entertaining and unpredictable minutes. His innocent but willing — in fact, enthusiastic — descent…
Grim & Fischer: A Deathly Comedy in Full Mask (Recommended)
Recommended From the opening moment of Grim & Fischer, presented by Wonderheads, a two-person troupe from Portland, Ore., you know this is going to be something special. A lone figure slinks on stage to the strains of Mozart’s Requiem, carrying a black letter. His movements are precise, with the intense comical elegance you get from…
Blown Up (Recommended)
Recommended The kids are all right. They know everything about the birds and bees, to say nothing of blow-up dolls, and they’ve been watching the grownups. Very carefully. Katie Hoffecker and Zak Kelley, students at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, wrote Blown Up and star in their 40-minute production, sharing billing with Roxie…
Breaking Rank!
Watching Howard Petrick perform his self-written, autobiographical, one-man show, Breaking Rank! was a bit of a time-machine trip for me. Petrick is just a few years older than I, and his cultural frame of reference — growing up in the 1960s and resisting American aggression in Southeast Asia — was very much the same as…
Morning News and Stuff
The Enquirer today offered a dramatic headline on its front page story, asking the figurative question, “Who will blink first on Music Hall deal?” Although Mayor Mark Mallory is able to literally blink, such involuntary action will not directly affect his stance on giving away Music Hall, which he is still opposed to. Cincinnati's outstanding…
Shake It Up: 2012 Dining Guide
The other day, I overheard a diner at Pho Lang Thang discussing his ordering dilemma. “I get a favorite dish, right, and then I always have to order it, even if I want to try something else. If I order the new thing I want to try, then I might not like it and I’ll…
Where to Eat 2012
The following collection is not a comprehensive account of Cincinnati restaurants — there are many great establishments we were unable to include due to space constraints. Find comprehensive local restaurant listings at citybeat.com CINCINNATI'S OWN Our signatures Arnold’s Bar and Grill Boasting its history as the oldest continuously run tavern in town, Arnold’s is a…
Review: Silversun Pickups’ ‘Neck of the Woods’
Since the 2005 release of their impressive Pikul EP, L.A.’s Brian Aubert and Silversun Pickups have gone from strength to strength with barely a hitch in their stride. The band’s 2006 full-length debut Carnavas was a bona fide smash, artfully blending Shoegaze crackle and fuzz with frenetic Indie Rock verve to create the Pickups’ singular…
Local Schools Fall Under New Grading System
Ohio received a No Child Left Behind waiver yesterday, and the state is now expected to evaluate its schools with a more stringent assessment plan suggested by Gov. John Kasich. The state released district-by-district data showing how each school district would fall under the new system, which uses letter grades to evaluate schools. The simulation,…
Music Tonight: J. Wail and Reggae Wednesday
Livetronica/Funk artist J. Wail performs tonight at The Mad Frog in Corryville. The Denver-based multi-instrumentalist produces Electronic Dance Music with a mix of tech and "real" instruments (live drums, guitar, etc.). J. Wail has collaborated on stage with everyone from Dean Ween to members of String Cheese Incident and the Grateful Dead, and he's opened…
Let’s Get Weird: ‘Workaholics’ Fully Torqued for Season Three
Comedy Central’s Workaholics (10:30 p.m. Tuesdays) might not be ground-breaking, but the stoner comedy will expand your vocabulary, or at least make you feel better about your crappy job. The “workaholics” are three twentysomething roomies and coworkers who spend their days at a telemarketing company to afford their partying ways (and relatively badass house with…
Craft Popsicle Maker Sets Up Shop in OTR
It’s hard to miss the bright white cart parked next to the farmers at Findlay Market. The whimsical stand sprinkled with bright green circles looks like it rolled out of an Etsy shop. Streetpops mixes modern design with vintage style, selling gourmet popsicles made from scratch, using the freshest ingredients possible. Owner Sara Bornick recently…
Adaptation of Norwegian Joe Nesbø Thriller Is Good Lurid Fun
Pulp fiction, in its original form, had a sordid feel that started with the tactile experience, the cheap paper and the campy splashes of color mixed with the busty femmes and the hard-boiled heroes. Pulp was outrageous fun, worlds where men were men and women were paragons of beauty and not much else, unless they…
Start Your Engines
By the time you read this, the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival will be fully under way. Even if you can’t see every show (an almost impossible task, even if you buy the “Full Frontal” pass with access to all performances), you owe it to yourself to come for an evening or two and sample the…
School’s In For Summer
D oes an art academy founded in the 19th century have a place in today’s world? John Sullivan, new president of the Art Academy of Cincinnati, believes it does. “Art-making is a marketable skill,” he says. “Branding, product design, other design fields need artists; some graduates go into the museum field, others become professional fine…
This Date in Music History: May 30
On this date in 1987, a Beastie Boys/Run DMC concert in Liverpool, England, turned into a riot and ended with the arrest of Adam "Ad Rock" Horovitz. The pumped-out crowd reportedly began throwing bottles and cans at the group, which the Boys playfully batted back at them. At first. After just a few minutes, things…
Your Wednesday To Do List
In celebration of City Council’s repeal of the breed-specific language in Cincinnati’s vicious dog ordinance, Cincinnati Pit Crew invites pups of all sorts to strut the streets tonight. Pitties on Parade is a chance for pit bulls and other breeds to show off their sweet side and display why the May 16 repeal was a…
Mac’s Pizza Pub Installs Electric Car Charging Station
Sometimes good things happen where you least expect them. Mac’s Pizza Pub is a pizza joint renowned by college kids for its greasy fare, noisy neighborhood bar feel, late hours and a good 'ol happy hour. The walls are splattered with offbeat photos and paintings, and its karaoke nights are enough to make one wish…
Kanye/Jay-Z, Gaga, Danzig
Royal Spreading Kanye West and Jay-Z will reportedly be making a sequel to their collaborative Watch the Throne album, according to producer Mike Dean. But that’s just a small part of the twosome’s plans to expand their kingdoms. Not long after it was revealed that Jay-Z would be in charge of the soundtrack for a…
Mad Anthony’s Bass-Less Acclimation
Walking into Mad Anthony’s practice space, the stench is the first thing that hits you. A smelly concoction of musty boxes, stale beer and good, old-fashioned B.O. swirl together to instantly assault your sinuses. But when the shirts come off and the first chords are struck, you quickly realize that the gritty Rock & Roll…
Hustler of Culture
F or anyone who likes Punk, Americana, British Folk, Country Rock or just enduring honky-tonk Rock & Roll, Jon Langford should be a household name. The Wales-born/Chicago-based musician plays Over-the-Rhine’s MOTR Pub this Friday with his band Skull Orchard. Should be, but isn’t. He’s not an unknown, exactly. Langford actually has had quite a busy…
The Afghan Whigs Officially Back on Tour
On May 23, The Afghan Whigs reunion officially kicked off with a sold-out show at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom. Leading up to the concert, the band released a new song — a great cover of an old obscure Soul song called “See and Don’t See” by Marie Queenie Lyons — as a free download…
Ohio Attorney General Sues The Beach
The Ohio Attorney General’s office on May 25 filed a lawsuit against The Beach Waterpark in Mason in response to complaints over the park’s March 9 closing and failure to offer full refunds to 8,800 season pass holders. The lawsuit charges the business with failure to deliver, a violation of Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act.…
Local Officials Concerned by Infant Mortality Rate
Cincinnati babies don’t get the same chance at seeing their first birthday as do infants in other states across the country, and area health professionals believe it’s time to become more proactive about it. On May 23, Noble Maseru, Cincinnati health commissioner, and Dr. Elizabeth Kelly, a maternal-infant health specialist at University Hospital, presented statistics…
Reds’ Teammates on Aroldis Chapman’s Dominance
From a fan’s standpoint, what Aroldis Chapman is doing seems amazing. Through May 27, Chapman hadn’t allowed an earned run in 21 appearances and 26 innings. He’d only allowed seven hits, walked eight and struck out 44. But it’s not just those in the stands that are impressed — so are his teammates. Here’s what…
Title Bout
T he well-funded organization We Are Ohio announced on May 21 that it will be taking up redistricting laws as its next major initiative by joining forces with Ohio Voters First, an organization that was created in response to a Republican redistricting plan that created 12 solidly Republican districts and four largely Democratic districts. We…
Cincinnati vs. The World 5.30.12
Los Angeles last week became the largest city in the U.S. to officially ban use of plastic bags, following the lead of 47 other California municipalities. WORLD +2 Ohio’s newly adopted residential building code will require new homes to be more energy-efficient, be tested for air leaks and come with carbon monoxide detectors. Although the…
Worst Week Ever!: May 23-29
WEDNESDAY MAY 23 Mitt Romney has been the defacto GOP leader for more than a month, and with the Republican National Convention just three months away it’s time for the party’s vice presidential candidates to show their mettle, if by mettle you mean show how talented they are at talking mass stuff about President Obama.…
Morning News and Stuff
Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel has already had a rough week, having to give back more than $100,000 in campaign contributions in response to an FBI investigation. Today The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Politifact website looked into one of the five claims made in Mandel's new 30-second TV ad, and it seems to be pretty false. Mandel…
Paternalistic Clichés Mar Non-Western Coverage
I recognize the patronizing voice in American reporting about countries struggling to find their way out of chaos or recently overturned dictatorships. It rings of the arrogance that too often accompanied our foreign aid, when it wasn’t politically incorrect to refer to used cans of cooking oil as “appropriate technology” for Third World women fetching…
‘Color’ Outside the Lines at The Carnegie
It’d be tempting to turn a show titled Full of Color into a gimmick. Just present a lot of bright, happy paintings and watch the crowds come. But that would be too easy and, ultimately, boring. Thank goodness Bill Seitz, gallery director at Covington’s Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center, considered the full spectrum —…
